West Ham had a torrid (mildly put!) start to the 2017/18 season and replaced Slaven Bilic with David Moyes at the beginning of November 2017 on a six-month contract to salvage their season. The Hammers have been in the PL since 2011/12 and will be hoping for Moyes to preserve their top flight status for a seventh consecutive season. The festive season is often a decisive period for most clubs, with the crammed fixture list testing the squad depth of most teams and injuries taking their toll.
West Ham under Moyes had quite a good festive season- let’s take a look at how the Hammers played during the festive period.
26th December AFC Bournemouth 3 – 3 West Ham United
James Collins headed West Ham in front at seven minutes following a corner from Aaron Cresswell. AFC Bournemouth levelled and then went ahead in the second half. Marko Arnautovic’s second half double seemed to have done enough for the Hammers before a controversial equaliser saw the Cherries draw level.
2nd January 2018 West Ham United 2 -1 West Bromwich Albion
West Ham won following two goals from Andy Carroll, including a 94th minute effort, to take the win and continue their unbeaten record as well as taking them out of the relegation zone.
4th January 2018 Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 1 West Ham United
This match ended in a draw but will be remembered for two goals of the highest quality- one from West Ham’s Pedro Obiang and the other from Tottenham Hotspur’s Son.
13th January 2018 Huddersfield Town 1 – 4 West Ham United
West Ham thrashed Huddersfield seeing Moyes become the fourth manager to win 200 Premier League matches. Mark Noble scored the first goal of the match at 25 minutes before Joe Lolley equalised. Within minutes of the second half starting Marko Arnautovic scored putting West Ham in the lead again. Manuel Lanzini knocked home a further two goals to give West Ham the win.
If you want to get in on the action be sure to take a look at the odds at popular betting sites where you can watch the game live and win money too.
The Hammers look good to beat the drop, but the league is tight this season and there’s not much separating teams close to mid table from those in the bottom three- two bad results for a team in 11th or 12th could easily see getting dragged back into the relegation dogfight. Every single point counts- 40 is traditionally considered safe, and the Hammers’ first target will be to achieve that figure.
Speak Your Mind