Not that West Ham United need any extra motivation in their quest to avoid relegation from the Premier League, but the prospect of Millwall taking their spot is enough to have even the happiest of Hammers fearing the worst.
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to another hated rival in Tottenham Hotspur, there are only six places separating West Ham United from Millwall in the football pyramid.
Seldom has the contrast been the best-case scenario and the worst been so dramatic.
If losing their Premier League status would be painful enough, there is a very real possibility that Millwall could be stepping into the top-flight shoes of their arch enemies six miles to the north.
How West Ham would love to REPEAT that famous 3-0 win…
But can you work out the four missing players from the 2013 victory?
Perennial overachievers Millwall are currently only three points behind Middlesbrough in the Championship’s automatic promotion positions. Even if the two local rivals do not end up swapping divisions, the chance to get one over on their neighbours is something Millwall giant Jake Cooper very much likes the sound of.
While West Ham face up to the prospect of losing captain Jarrod Bowen should those fears of relegation become reality, Millwall’s very own skipper is dreaming of becoming the first to lead his team out against the Hammers since Liam Trotter went eyeball-to-eyeball with Kevin Nolan in 2012.
Jake Cooper hopes Millwall get to face West Ham United next season
That 2-1 victory at Upton Park 14 years ago is still the last time West Ham and Millwall faced off. Despite Nolan’s ninth-minute red card, Sam Allardyce’s side prevailed via Carlton Cole and a Winston Reid thunderbolt.
The next time they go head to head, be it in the Premier League, the Championship or the domestic cups, it will be their 100th meeting.
“We know the fans will want that,” Cooper, who is nearing his 400th Millwall appearance, tells talkSPORT.
“I’ve been a player here for nine years and I would love to play West Ham at some point. We are hoping we can push the other way [and replacing them in the top-flight].
“But if they go down and we unfortunately do not achieve what we set out to achieve, then obviously we will have a great fixture on our hands next season.”
“It’s the fixture that we always want to see; West Ham taking on Millwall,” agrees talkSPORT host Alan Brazil, who played in London himself back in the day with Tottenham and Queens Park Rangers.
“Billy the cabbie, who drops me off [at work] says, ‘Oh, I remember, we used to make them run!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, alright Bill!’
“Honestly, you should hear them – both sets of fans! Canary Wharf is a big split between Millwall and West Ham. It’s one of the biggest rivalries in the country. Millwall could get up, West Ham could go down!”
With these players out or doutbful, who needs to step up against Tottenham?!
Nuno hopeful over Mateus Fernandes and Lucas Paqueta for Tottenham trip
Should West Ham manage to pull off a win away at Tottenham on Saturday and should Nottingham Forest lose at home to Arsenal in the late kick-off, the distance from 17th to 18th will be reduced once again to just four points.
Nuno hopes to have Mateus Fernandes available again following a knock which forced the midfielder to miss that 2-1 FA Cup victory over QPR. The Hammers boss is not ruling out a return for Lucas Paqueta either, despite ongoing discussions between the Brazilian and Flamengo this week.
“We are in a tough position but we are fighting to improve our game and the way we play,” Nuno said during his press conference on Thursday. “There were many matches where we played well and didn’t achieve a result, but that [QPR win] happened at the weekend, so that can be our starting point for what we want to do at Spurs.”
“There are many things [which explain our poor form], not only luck. There are mistakes, mistakes that we can control.
“Let’s avoid talking about referees, but football is a game of fine margins. It’s the ball that hits the post, an offside by two centimetres. We have to work to gain our luck. We have to go and fight for it.
“[Tottenham] is a good team, full of talented players. Always a tough place to go. We expect a very tough match and it’s a rival – it’s a London derby. We are going to have 30,000 fans. What they expect from us is that we put up a good fight, then we’ll see.
“It’s a tough opponent and we need to have a good result. Our focus is to go there and compete. There is a lot of football to be played, but each game is very, very important for us.”
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