Hammers Already Pointed Towards Top Four Glory!

With only one match played already the mighty Hammers are forcing their way up the table in a push for ultimate Champion's League glory. 

Hammers fans will be hoping to kick on from where they left off last season but already early results emphasise that this is a different ball game and nothing should be taken for granted.

Leicester, who were seemingly unbeatable last year, followed up last week's Charity Shield defeat by losing today to relegation favourites Hull City!

Despite getting (yet another) dodgy penalty decision in their favour, the hapless foxes conceded twice to a Hull City side that looks suspiciously like the one that was relegated two seasons ago.

Leicester are thus now BOTTOM OF THE LEAGUE!!!

Quoted at 14/1 for relegation in the preseason, those odds will surely be slashed to 10/1 or less. Oh how the mighty have fallen!

 

Hammers Annual Relegation Battle Begins

We are bottom of the league, we are .....

Although it's an alphabetical anomaly, but any year that Wolves are outside the Premiership West Ham begin the year at the bottom. However, after last years lightning start, Hammers fans will be hoping that their new squad can push on further from last years 7th placed finish.

The Leicester story has undoubtedly fuelled a thousand dreams of unlikely Premiership success amongst fans of all clubs, but realistically the big six are likely to dominate the upper echelons of the league with Man City favourites at 21/10, followed by a revitalised Mourinho-led Man United at 7/2 with Paddy Poormakers.

Meanwhile, current champions Leicester are quoted at 33/1 but without N'Golo Kante they may struggle to repeat last year's stunning successes.

The Hammers are an outside bet at 80/1 that could get interesting if Dimitri Payet continues his form. Moreover, with a solid defence and combative midfield, if Andy Carroll could deliver on his potential and Andre Ayew connects well with Payet, it could get very interesting!

Perhaps the best value is Spurs at 10/1 but their longstanding potential to choke when it really matters will discourage all but the most fervent fans to part with cash.


In terms of relegation, rudderless Hull city are favourites at the mildly insulting odds of 13/6 on! Burnley are evens while the dream of Tottenham going down is an outside bet at 375/1 against.

At 33/1 the Hammers history of relegation yoyo remains a factor that observers consider relevant but in reality, the current Hammers squad is far too strong to get sucked into relegation issues. Moreover, the Olympic stadium, and it's revenue stream, will surely insulate the fastest growing club in Europe against such disasters.

However, good and all as the current squad is, are they really that much better than the 2003 side that got relegated? Moreover, the robust defence upon which west Ham built last year's successes looks much more porous on the flanks with a shortage of experienced natural full backs in the squad.

Astute fans will point to the abilities of SuperSlaven Bilic as a definite distinction between the two squads and its hard to see the calm Croat panicking if the team and supporters struggle to settle in at the new stadium.

Moreover, the good news that Aaron Cresswell is recovering more quickly than expected, along with the signing of Arthur Masuaku and the continued development of Sam Byram should tighten things up. the arrival of another right back before the transfer window closes would be reassuring!

Finally, perhaps the most meaningful odds to consider are the much-coveted Champion's League top four spots. At 8/1 against this might be the best Hammers value of all as Bilic's men came much closer than their final position suggested last year and but for a series of unfortunate refereeing gaffes would have been competing very strongly for fourth place. What goes around comes around, so maybe this term the decisions will go their way?

We reckon £30 on a top four finish will earn you the cash for a season ticket in 2017/8.


 

Sak's Back!

The arrival of Andre Ayew and Jonathan Calleri has bolstered West Ham's confidence that they can score enough goals to make their first season at the Olympic Stadium a success. However, many fans were disappointed when Diafra Sakho looked to be on his way to West Brom - until a failed medical scuppered his plans.

Sakho enjoyed a fabulous start to life with the Hammers scoring in six consecutive games at the start of the 2014-5 season. Unfortunately, things have been stop-start ever since while there have been a series of off-field problems and disturbing visits to social media. Never the less, there can be little doubting that Saks has an edge and that his pace and aggression creates space for others.

As a result, many fans hope that he will rediscover his focus and return to the fray. In encouraging news today club chairman David Gold revealed that Sakho is back in training and that the door is definitely open for a return to the first team squad.

All of which makes you wonder how he managed to fail the medical at the Hawthorns? With Andy Carroll's injury-proneness combined with Calleri's lack of Premiership experience, having Sakho and Ayew both available would be a real boost as we face an exciting season.



 

Payet Won't Start at Stamford Bridge

Slaven Bilic has revealed his thoughts ahead of Monday night's Premiership opener against a revamped Chelsea. Questioned about the potential involvement of Dimitri Payet, Bilic confirmed that he would be involved but "not for 90 minutes". It seems certain that Payet will start from the bench as Bilic commented how Payet is the type of player you want to have involved in the final 15 minutes.

With that in mind, we predict the following starting XI: Adrian, Byram, Reid, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Noble, Kouyate, Feghouli, Antonio, Valencia, Carroll.
We can expect Payet and new signing Andre Ayew to appear in the final quarter, esp[ecially if Paddy Power's odds of Chelsea at 4/6 on and the Hammers a decent bet at 9/2 against for the win.

Hammers no longer Kneed replacements

With eight new signings having arrived during the Summer SuperSlaven Bilic's squad is looking strong ahead of a busy campaign that will hopefully include sustained participation in the Europa League.

There has also been good news on the injury front with their three players idelined with knee injuries all making good progress. Aaron Cresswell is now weight bearing again, Manny Lanzini is running, while Gokhan Tore is back in full training.

It remains to be seen whether a right back will arrive to compete with Sam Byram for the starting berth, but many Hammers will be hoping that Michail Antonio will be liberated from his makeshift duties in defence. Reece Burke put in a decent showing at right back against Juventus last weekend and provides another option.

Up front, the arrivals of Andre Ayew and Jonathan Calleri should allow for the exit of either or both of Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho. Reports suggest that Valencia may go on loan to either Italy or Turkey, while Sakho may yet make peace with the club having failed a medical at West Brom.

With the season's opener at Chelsea on Monday, wepredict the following starting XI: Adrian, Byram, Reid, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Noble, Kouyate, Payet, Feghouli, Antonio, Carroll.

Yes, that's Andy Carroll to heap more disappointment on Chelsea after last season's winner at Upton Park with new signing Andre Ayew starting on the bench.

Hartson recalls 'that' incident

The continued health and prosperity of Big John Hartson is something that all football fans find inspiring. Having survived a life threatening battle with testicular cancer that had spread to his brain, he serves as a testimony to the powers of recovery with his amusing an astute contributions as a media pundit.

Last night saw Hartson appear on Newstalk FM in Ireland where he revisited various highs and lows from his career. Many listeners would have been surprised to hear how Hartson scored the winning goal in 4 consecutive old firm derbies! When asked about the biggest game in his career he replied 'all the big firm games'. When the interviewers asked him to select one Celtic-Rangers clash in particular he replied 'all of them'!

In terms of low points, he was quick to identify the 1998 training ground incident with Eyal Berkovic as 'the biggest regret of my career'. john explained how a rush of blood to the head caused the incident but was quick to point out that although very physical in a targeted way, he was never 'dirty' and lamented how much it affected his reputation and subsequent career.

He also joked how after apologising and making peace with Berkovic, he had returned home with the assurance that the incident would be kept quiet. however, his bedtime tea and KitKat (!) was spoiled by his wife summoning him to see himself featuring on the news at ten as the footage had been released and gone viral! 

Why not visit the John Hartson Foundation and support their battle against testicular cancer: http://www.johnhartsonfoundation.co.uk/  

There's lot's of information about how you can reduce your risk from testicular cancer.

Meanwhile, Big John continues as an inspiration to us all - and a refreshingly forthright and humorous commentator on all things footy.



 

Wham Bam...Thankyou West Ham

Yesterday was not just the official opening of the new Stadium but also DergHammer Supporters Club first experience of the ground and its environs. For sure, it's sad to leave Upton Park but for accessibility and overall experience, the new ground has a lot to offer the international fan. Check out our day:

5.15AM: Up and a quick shower then into the car bound for Shannon airport.
6.25AM: Arrive at Shannon for the 7:05 red eye to Stansted.
8.15AM: Touch down in Stansted. We catch a coffee and jump on one of the many buses heading on a 40 minute journey to Stratford.
9.30AM: Arrive in Stratford. Breakfast and then we head for a look at the stadium. It's been nicely Hammerified with gigantic pics of our heroes and there are loads of good photo opportunities.
10.30AM: We head to the Olympic Aquatic Centre for a nice morning swim to clear the cobwebs and relieve any pre-match tension.
11.30AM: Meet with friends and then do a Jamie (Oliver). Decent nosh and reasonable price too. It's pretty clear that Stratford has embraced the reality that West Ham are here to stay and it seems that fans are welcome everywhere. One suspects that the pubs will become more Hammers-friendly pretty quickly.
12.15PM: We head for the stadium. Great atmosphere and endless positivity. In we go...
12.30PM: Nice opening ceremony with tributes to Bobby and Uncle Trev. Lots of fireworks.
1.00PM: We're off. The view is decent. The atmosphere is good but not quite Boleynesque. Maybe that needs time. We go two down but then Andy C pops up with two great headers and it's even steven.
2.43PM: Payet enters the fray.......YESSSSSSSS! We concede a late goal to an excellent Simone Zaza strike. Poor Reece Oxford had a learning moment!
3.00PM: It's time to leave. The club shop is jammers so we head for Pigbelly's coffee house. There's a chick playing Radiohead songs on an acoustic guitar.
4.15PM: Back to the shop which is very manageable now. Jerseys etc and we are ready to depart.
5.15PM: Bus back to Stansted for the 19:50 flight.....loadsa time to grab some grub in the surprisingly excellent Leons.
10.05PM: Home!....and a celebratory beer.

There can be no doubting that the Olympic Stadium opens up matchday adventures for a much greater circle of fans - including anybody living near an airport that has connections with Stansted.

We had a marvellous day that was made possible by the convenience and accessibility of the new stadium....Thankyou Mr Gold and Mr Sullivan.....but still and all, there's a part of us that misses UP.