Despite West Ham’s European heroics last season, the club found themselves in a relegation battle domestically. With guaranteed Europa League football next season, could it be a case of déjà vu for The Hammers?
(The Athletic, 2023)
Who’s in Charge?
At the age of 60, David Moyes is set to embark on his 20th Premier League campaign. After being underrated for many years, ‘Moyesy’ finally got the recognition he deserved last season, when he guided West Ham to their first trophy in 43 years, in the form of the Europa Conference League.
West Ham usually play a 4-2-3-1 formation with wide players such as Bowen and Benrahma, who like to take fullbacks on and cut inside. They have been known to be very dangerous on the counter attack, which is where many of their goals have came from over the past few seasons. Furthermore, The Hammers are renowned set-piece specialists and have a number of aerial threats in their arsenal.
(The Sporting News, 2023)
The In’s and Out’s
In’s
Edson Alvarez - Ajax, £38m
Out’s
Declan Rice - Arsenal, £116.6m
Gianluca Scamacca - Atalanta, £25m
Nikola Vlasic - Torino, £12.8m
Arthur Masuaku - Besiktas, £2m
Manuel Lanzini - River Plate, free
(talkSPORT, 2023)
West Ham’s standout player
Not only does he have the best chant in the league, but Lucas Paqueta is an integral part of West Ham’s squad. The flair and creativity of the Brazilian International is something West Ham fans haven’t seen since the days of Dimitri Payet. However, Paqueta is inevitably attracting some attention from some big six clubs, namely Manchester City, who have just had a bid rejected for the midfielder.
Should Paqueta leave, Jarrod Bowen will be a hugely important player for West Ham. The Hammers’ hero in Prague only bagged himself six Premier League goals last season, so he’ll be looking to better that this time round.
(ESPN, 2023)
Will it be a successful or unsuccessful season for West Ham?
With the loss of their talisman and captain Declan Rice, West Ham were never going to be able to fully replace such a talent. Their sole signing, Edson Alvarez, is a superb tackler however has nowhere near the levels of creativity and ball carrying ability as Rice.
It is for this reason that the Hammers are trying to sign James Ward-Prowse. From his time at Southampton, Ward-Prowse has proven his leadership skills and can hit a fifty pence piece with a pass. Furthermore, he’s a dead ball specialist and with aerial threats such as Zouma, Soucek, Aguerd and potentially Maguire in the box, every team in the league would be afraid to concede a corner to the Hammers.
After the highs of last season, even if West Ham don’t keep Paqueta or make any new additions, I still don’t fancy them to be in another relegation scrap. However if they manage to keep Paqueta and sign Ward-Prowse, The Irons could really kick on and achieve a top half finish.
By Ally Gordon
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