Nuno Espirito Santo has major problem at West Ham United as relegation danger has now compounded

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Nuno Espirito Santo was hired by West Ham United with the primary task of avoiding relegation from the Premier League.

The former Wolves took over from Graham Potter at the end of September, with the Hammers in 19th place.

Currently, West Ham sit in 18th place despite securing a point from their 1-1 draw against Brighton.

Nuno must fix West Ham issues as xPts make for grim reading

On the face of it, Nuno has brought about positive changes and the players certainly seem to be responding to it.

A number of players, including Alphonse Areola, Jean-Clair Todibo, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Callum Wilson, among others, have shown remarkable improvement under the Portuguese manager’s stewardship.

However, the underlying numbers show that plenty of work is still to be done at the London Stadium.

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According to Opta’s Expected Points metric (xPts), West Ham United find themselves in 19th place in the league.

The table, provided by Understat, shows that even Wolves have more xPts than the Hammers and the former are currently on course to be the worst Premier League team ever.

Only Burnley, who have 9.02 xPts to the Irons’ 13.07, are doing objectively worse than Nuno’s side this season.

Which signings can help Nuno in the second half of the season?

While there have been improvements among the current crop of players, it is evident that new signings are needed in the January transfer window.

A new striker is rightly the priority in the coming weeks, particularly to take the burden off Callum Wilson.

The Englishman is 33 and cannot start games week in and week out, which is why he had to be brought off the bench against Brighton.

Ivan Toney is wanted by West Ham, but that move is complicated given the England international’s wages at Al Ahli.

The Hammers are also keen on signing a new centre-back, given Max Kilman’s struggles in the Premier League.

With Nuno potentially playing a back three more than a back four, he could bring in someone who’s more comfortable playing in that system and that player could be Charlie Cresswell.