It’s deja vu for the Dane; Mads Hermansen in another Premier League relegation battle and hoping that West Ham United can survive where Leicester City sank.
Nuno Espirito Santo decided against selling Hermansen during the January transfer window. Instead, the head coach brought him back into the fold after five months stuck on the sidelines. And, despite conceding five times as Liverpool ran riot at Anfield last time out, Mads Hermansen is likely to keep his place when West Ham United travel to Fulham on Wednesday night.
Denmark’s back-up goalkeeper finished 18th in the table at Leicester City last season, before his £20 million switch to the London Stadium in August.
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He accepts that there is one big difference between the Foxes and the Hammers, though, even if the same fate could befall the latter.
Mads Hermansen says West Ham United simply expect more than Leicester City did
Speaking to Viaplay before Nuno takes his team to Craven Cottage – the Londoners ended the weekend still within touching distance of Nottingham Forest and Tottenham after they lost to Brighton and, funnily enough, Fulham – Hermansen admits the ‘expectations’ are a very different compared to at Leicester.
Premier League and FA Cup winners they might have been fairly recently, but the Foxes were expected to struggle in their first season after promotion. And struggle they did.
West Ham, though, have been a top flight side for well over a decade now. While the expectations are greater in East London than they are in the East Midlands, so too is the disappointment regarding a largely dreadful campaign.
“I can sense that the expectations from outside are greater here at West Ham [than at Leicester],” says Hermansen. “It is also something that has filled the club and its surroundings with disappointment that we are where we are.
“Last year, I was in the same – and maybe even more difficult – situation. I think my experience of knowing that every game is important because things move quickly and the opposing teams also win helps me.
“The experience that it’s ‘now or never’ is good to take with you.”
Nuno felt Hammers had a lot of ‘positives’ despite Liverpool loss
According to The Athletic, Hermansen held discussions with Axel Disasi and Konstantinos Mavropanos after that 5-2 Liverpool thrashing on Saturday. West Ham carried plenty of threat going forward but, for the first time since Hermansen replaced Alphonse Areola and Disasi arrived from Chelsea, a much-improved backline collapsed under the weight of pressure.
Even Arne Slot admitted the scoreline flattered Liverpool.
Nuno risked sounding ‘absurd’ in his post-match press conference – to quote the man himself – but he also felt there were a lot of positives to take, albeit undercut by three set-piece concessions during the first-half on Merseyside.
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That is a concern which still hangs over Hermansen.
West Ham have conceded 16 set-piece goals in the Premier League this season, the most level with Bournemouth. Hermansen may have been responsible for all of the clean sheets kept by the Hammers, but a lot of their set-piece concessions have come with him between the sticks.
Up against a Fulham side boasting plenty of height in Raul Jimenez, Issa Diop, Calvin Bassey and more, a repeat of that Anfield capitulation hardly bears thinking about.
It is a mark of a much more competitive competition, though, that West Ham have as many points on the board now after 28 games [25] as Leicester finished with in 2024/25.
Considering their current points-per-game rate, the Hammers should finish nine points better off than Hermansen’s Foxes. Whether that is enough to keep them up, though, only time will tell.
Nuno dropped Areola for Hermansen primarily, it seems, for his ability on the ball rather than any superior shot-stopping talents. Hermansen averages 33 passes per game compared to Areola’s 27, and completes 61 per cent compared to the Frenchman’s 46 per cent.
“[Keeping clean sheets] is not about our goalkeeper and backline, it starts with our striker,” Nuno told West Ham’s website recently.
“Mads gives us this option also to play from the back. I think the team is acknowledging and realising that we have an extra man that can help us.”
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