West Ham are on the brink of a full-blown crisis as the club’s fragile situation takes a worrying turn after a new disaster.
When the Hammers beat Newcastle and Burnley and drew with Bournemouth it felt like the team may be turning the corner under Nuno Espirito Santo.
The reality of course was that West Ham’s start to the season under Graham Potter was so abysmal that the seven-point haul from three games merely meant they kept pace with their relegation rivals.
A hugely underwhelming performance in defeat to Liverpool has been given new context overnight.
West Ham have always been the gift horse for teams or managers in desperate need of a win or that struggling striker who hasn’t scored for months.
So it was no great surprise the Hammers were the only team to struggle against Liverpool for some time.
But Sunderland’s performance in a draw at Anfield on Wednesday night, where they were seriously unlucky not to win, showed just how far off it West Ham truly are.
Why West Ham are on the brink of a full-blown crisis
Next up is a trip to Manchester United on Thursday night.
Ahead of the game it’s disaster for West Ham and it could soon be a full-blown crisis with what’s coming.
If there were any doubts whatsoever that the Hammers are in very real danger of being relegated, they should now be dispelled.
Make no mistake, West Ham are deep in the mire.
The Hammers are over a third of the way through the season and will fast be approaching the halfway stage.
With pressure mounting and problems stacking up at the worst possible time, Nuno is facing a pivotal moment that defines the entire season and it’s not looking good for a number of reasons.
Disastrous night of results piles pressure on West Ham
West Ham fans can be forgiven for avoiding football given how bad their team has been for the last two years.
Well that was probably wise last night because results elsewhere plunged West Ham back into the Premier League relegation zone.
Leeds pulled off an impressive and shock 3-1 win at home against Chelsea in front of a raucous Elland Road crowd which made the London Stadium look like a library.
The result put Daniel Farke’s side above West Ham who now need a 2-0 win at Man United to climb back out.
Burnley lost but Nottingham Forest beat Wolves to open up a four-point gap on the Hammers.
It is now starting to realistically look like three teams from four for the drop and essentially a three-way shootout between West Ham, Leeds and Burnley to be the team that stays up.
Anyone watching Leeds’ display against Chelsea will have grave concerns about West Ham getting more points on the board than them this season.
Player absences and Bowen form hit Hammers hard
West Ham were always an injury to Jarrod Bowen or Crysencio Summerville away from a crisis.
And that is proving to be the case.
Summerville is so important to this West Ham side and the form of Bowen.
When the Dutchman doesn’t play the Hammers are so much easier to play against and Bowen easier to mark as West Ham’s only real threat.
The opposition simply double up on the skipper and it is showing of late with Bowen suffering arguably the worst run of form in his near six years with the club.
It comes with Summerville set to miss another game at Old Trafford and the club being worryingly secretive about what injury he has suffered so soon after returning from eight months out.
Throw in Lucas Paqueta’s latest self-inflicted absence through suspension and his volatile mental state and it’s clear the team’s so-called Holy Trinity is struggling at the worst possible time.
Daunting fixture list looms for West Ham
West Ham’s start to the season was so bad they simply have to pull a few rabbits out of the hat if they are to win enough games to stay up.
There will need to be a few more results like the Newcastle one for the Hammers.
Especially with the likes of Leeds getting that win against Chelsea.
But as West Ham drop back into the relegation zone they cannot look to the fixture list for respite.
After a trip to a rejuvenated Man United, who welcome back one of their best players in Mateus Cunha, West Ham go to Brighton then play in-form Aston Villa before a trip away to Man City.
After the Liverpool defeat it would be no surprise at all if the Hammers were to emerge from that clutch of games nursing a run of five straight defeats.
Nuno will have to work some magic to ensure that’s not the case or a gap will have opened up at the halfway stage.
AFCON DEFCON for West Ham
Just as the fixture list eases up a touch heading into January, West Ham will lose two of their most important players to AFCON.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf will go to AFCON for up to six weeks from January with DR Congo and Senegal.
West Ham’s board admit they are hugely concerned about losing Wan-Bissaka and Diouf.
It’s easy to see why, they are two of the only players in the team with any pace.
Kyle Walker-Peters can ably fill in for one of them but the lack of depth in West Ham’s squad threatens to be brutally exposed by AFCON.
Financial black cloud gathers above the London Stadium
The team’s desperate struggle to stay in the Premier League will come against the backdrop of more doom and gloom off the pitch.
West Ham have long been bracing fans for record £100m plus losses in the club’s latest accounts set to be released in December.
When the finances are released it will only serve to darken the mood around the club as fan protests continue against the ownership.
West Ham face January transfer window difficulties
West Ham have vowed to back Nuno in the January transfer window with a striker the top priority.
The financial situation won’t help in that regard but neither will West Ham’s league position – if it doesn’t improve.
Signing quality players in January is hard enough as it is. Persuading them to sign up for a relegation battle – and a tight one between just two or three teams – could be a thankless task.
Just like Nuno with the results, West Ham simply must pull some rabbits from the hat in the window if they are to have any hope of survival.
By that stage the club may need miracles not magicians.
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