Here we go again – Premier League football is back, which means that West Ham fans everywhere can debate our style of football, rave/complain about our manager, share in our glorious victories and commiserate and pick apart our defeats. The question on everyone’s lips though is, how will we fare? I’ve got the crystal ball out and tried to map out what might happen.
August: Normally I come into a season with optimism. Not so this one. New manager, players adapting to a new way of playing, transfer activity disappointing, you can see that August might be a struggle. When you look at these three matches in isolation, you can make a case for losing each one. Villa are decent and in form, we always lose to Palace, Man City are Man City. I think this is going to be a struggle – three points might be a bonus.
September: Two teams who we lost 5-0 to last season, and a Brentford team who scored five against us in two matches. On the face of it, not promising. But we really should be turning up against Fulham – if only because they put seven past us in two games last season whilst we barely tested their goalkeeper. Which Chelsea will we see this campaign? One that I think will be a tougher proposition, but Brentford might be a tip to struggle this season. Six points.
October: Brilliant to see Ipswich back up. The manager is decent and at some stage, he’ll be off to bigger and better things. I think they will do better than many predict, and our match won’t be easy. We have enough to win, though. Spurs are horrid and I have a sinking feeling that Manchester United might be stronger than they have been in a while, so this might be another tough month. Three points.
November: Forest are another team I look at and go, they might struggle. Their form wasn’t great towards the end of last season, but then again, ours was worse. We might get something, though. Everton? Awkward team, but we could get something against them too, especially at home.
I think Newcastle, without the distraction of Europe but potentially with an unsettled manager, may also struggle to hit previous heights, and Arsenal will be decent again and we may struggle. But I think we have it in us to have a solid month here, with seven points visible in the crystal ball.
December: Six matches in December – I get the ‘traditional Christmas’ thing but seriously, give the players a break. Anyway, on paper this looks like a potential quality points haul. We’re capable of getting something out of all of them and I do think there are at least three wins in that lot provided we turn up. I think 10 points is a real possibility here – injuries permitting, of course.
January: By this stage of course we’ll be well on our way to winning the League Cup, and focussing on FA Cup glory so we might prioritise that over some of the league fixtures. It looks tough, and I don’t see anything from the City or Villa games, but a win is possible over Fulham and surely we are due to beat Palace at home at some point? Perhaps there’s four points here, but secretly hoping for six.
February: I think Chelsea might be too strong for us here, and after our steal from Arsenal away last season, they won’t be making that mistake again. But Brentford and Leicester, I think, should be there for the taking. Providing we aren’t struggling, I think we’ll have too much for them, so six points.
March: Only two matches here, and two teams that we might struggle against – but it depends really on the Newcastle that we get next season. We owe them after that 4-3 debacle last time around. There’s a chance we’ll get a couple of points here, but I’d take a win over Newcastle and defeat to Everton, to be honest, if only to compensate for the dark arts and wipe the smile off some of their players’ faces.
April: If we’re struggling for points by this stage, salvation may come in the matches against Wolves, Bournemouth, Southampton and possibly Brighton, who looked distinctly off-colour last season. I don’t think we’ll win them all, but I think we will beat a couple of those sides, and lose to Liverpool. I reckon seven points is doable here and frankly we’ll need to be in with a shout given May’s early fixtures.
May: Hard to tell so far out but Spurs and Man Utd, who I think will have better seasons, will be tough. I think Forest are beatable but if Ipswich have heads above water or any chance of survival on the last day, they will absolutely be giving that their all.
I think four points here is achievable – provided we are in a decent state ourselves, which is by no means a given. What does this mean? The crystal ball is throwing up something in the region of the low 50s points tally, which feels about right and indicates a probable mid-table finish.
But this is West Ham, so who knows? The Champions League and relegation are equally plausible.
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