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The race to avoid relegation has really heated up in recent weeks as the bottom three have all picked points that mean they could still get out of danger. And while it’s the three newly-promoted sides that occupy the bottom three at present and are favourites to make a swift return back to the Championship, Hull City could be the side in biggest danger of losing their Premier League status come the end of May.

For the majority of the season, Hull City have rarely been mentioned as possible candidates for the drop, and with a squad containing a number of talented established Premier League stars Steve Bruce was expected to comfortably guide them to safety once more.

But Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Swansea has left the Tigers in real trouble going into the final seven games, and they sit just two points ahead of Burnely and a resurgent Queen’s Park Rangers.

They sit bottom of the form table without a win in five games, and with no sign of their luck changing anytime soon fans of the club could be forgiven for feeling extremely anxious at the prospect of relegation.

And perhaps the most worrying part of it all is their fixture list over the next weeks that really will have alarm bells ringing. It’s safe to say Hull look in serious danger.

Bruce’s side have three games left in April, and it’s difficult to see them picking up many points given their current run of form. They travel to St Mary’s this weekend to face a Southampton side who will be desperate for a win to keep alive their faint hopes of Champions League qualification. They then welcome Liverpool to the KC Stadium, another side chasing the top four places who also will be in need of the three points.

You would say their final game of the month represented Hull’s best chance of picking up points when they visit Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace. But again this poses a hugely difficult task given the run of form the Eagles are on under new boss Alan Pardew as his side continue to climb the table. Their impressive victory over Manchester City on Monday has them showing no signs of letting up as the season draws to a close, and their aim of securing a top-half finish does little to suggest Hull can go there and win.

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So conceivably they could enter May and the final four games without anymore points to their name, and unfortunately for them things don’t get any easier. They host the league’s in-form side Arsenal who may still have an outside shot at the title when the two sides meet, before what could be the pivotal game of Hull’s season.

Burnley are the visitors to the KC on 9th May, in a game that looks like it will have a huge bearing on the fate of both sides. Given the fact Burnley continue to pick up points, it could be a must win for the home side and maybe their only real opportunity for another victory this season.

By the time they travel to Tottenham the week after they may well find themselves in the bottom three. They will be hoping by that time that Spurs’ can no longer qualify for the Champions League which could make a difficult game slightly more winnable, before their season finishes with a visit from none other than Manchester United. Not the team you want to be playing if you need points on the final day.

The Red Devils could still be challenging for second place, or on the other hand may need points themselves to seal a top four spot. Either way it’s another tough ask for Hull.

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So there you have it; worrying to say the least. A horrendous run of victories means it’s difficult to make a case for Hull beating the drop and remain above the chasing pack for much longer. They may well require two or three wins over the coming weeks to stay above QPR, Burnley and even Leicester who won at the weekend. But can you really see them doing that? I certainly can’t.

We all the Premier League can throw up some surprise results, particularly towards the end of the season when teams are fighting for their lives. And Hull have to take confidence from this and their recent defeat to Chelsea in order to give them the belief that they can stay up, otherwise their latest stay in the Premier League will reach it’s end once again after two seasons.

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Saturdays 2-1 defeat to Huddersfield effectively put the final nail in the coffin for our season, with a seven point gap that would prove difficult for most in form teams, never mind one that lacks a severe cutting edge.

With any defeat comes negativity, but it’s when the defeat is also met with an air of expectancy that there becomes a serious problem.

When Neil Warnock took over as manager he was the first choice for many, and the fact that it hasn’t worked out for him doesn’t mean that any of us were wrong to get our hopes up over him coming in. Warnock is a good manager, his record proves that and it cannot be argued against, but there is only so much a good manager can do with a club that has spent years limiting the resources on offer. That being said, Warnock cannot argue that he hasn’t received backing of sorts, it was only a few games ago that he told us all that he wished he’d had this squad from the start of the season, before deciding that we were still one or two short.

Truth be told, we’re probably about seven or eight short. That team is an average Championship side, thankfully the players all seem committed to the cause, and you can’t help but think that the season could have been drastically worse had they not been.

With all this in mind, it looks as though Warnock’s time at Elland Road is coming to an end. Personally, I’ll look back at his tenure with a hint of regret, there was no doubt that he came here wanting promotion as much as we all did, but unfortunately the ambition we shared was not matched by Bates at the start of the season by GFH after they took over, who perhaps understandably seemed to be focusing on next season. Right man, wrong time.

Whether Warnock leaves before our game with Ipswich is anyone’s guess, but what we need to do now is let GFH handle this how they see fit. For the first time in a long time it would appear that we have very level headed owners who wont rush or panic into making decisions. They’ve already proved to be listening to the fans, the recent drop in season ticket prices reflects this, and that isn’t the first time they’ve tried to re-engage the fans.

Appointing the wrong man now would undo all that hard work, right now we need a dream to buy in to and the first piece of the jigsaw has to be a quality manager. Ambition breeds confidence in fans, bringing the right man in now could seriously galvanise the fans and club as a whole for next season.

Trust between the club and fans has been shattered in the past, but GFH have called a lot of the shots right since they arrived, and they deserve huge credit for restoring some of that lost trust.

Bring in the right manager, and they might be in danger of becoming popular.

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Twitter – @giddy_goose

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According to The Mirror, Leicester City will make a £20m move for Jack Grealish if Aston Villa fail to secure promotion to the Premier League this season.

What’s the story?

It would be fair to say that Grealish has had some difficult moments – both on and off the field – in the early stages of his career, but there is no doubting that the attacker is a fine talent.

The 22-year-old has reignited his reputation with a string of impressive performances this season, and is leading Villa’s charge towards the Premier League.

Steve Bruce’s side are currently fourth in the Championship table, and whilst they are still in the hunt for automatic promotion, it does appear that the club will have to settle for the playoffs as they bid to return to the Premier League.

According to The Mirror, Leicester are keeping a close eye on Villa’s Championship season as the Foxes eye a £20m swoop for Grealish in this summer’s transfer window.

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The report claims that the former Premier League champions want the attacker to play behind Jamie Vardy in the number 10 position next season.

Can Aston Villa keep him?

Villa have been very, very good to Grealish when considering some of the issues that the attacker has had in the early stages of his career.

Grealish is not exactly short of Premier League experience having played at that level between 2013 and 2016, but he has been a Championship player for the last two seasons.

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This term, Grealish has scored three times and registered five assists in 25 appearances in all competitions, and has been in impressive form in recent weeks.

Much will depend on whether Villa can rise into the Premier League this season, which would see the attacker receive an increase in wages, and indeed place the club in a better position.

Grealish is contracted to his current club until the summer of 2020, but failure to secure a spot in the Premier League for the 2018-19 campaign could well see the talented Englishman move on.

After an excellent campaign last season which saw them secure European qualification; narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification, it’s fair to say this season has been a huge disappointment for Everton.

Baring some excellent performances in the Europa League, which were ultimately in vein as they crashed out in Ukraine, a lack of victories in the Premier League has been a real cause for concern.

One positive during a difficult season for the Merseyside outfit has been the performances of their star striker Romelu Lukaku, who has impressed yet again.

Following a successful loan spell at the club, Lukaku made a permanent switch to Everton last summer with Chelsea cashing in on one their brightest prospects for £28m. And although they will be delighted in the way he has performed at times this season; scoring 18 goals along the way, Roberto Martinez will now be anxious at the prospect of losing him this summer.

Having flourished in the Europa League this season with eight goals, it’s no surprise he has caught the eye of other clubs. There’s no doubting he has the ability to play at the highest level, and at just 21-years-of-age he has the potential to become one of Europe’s leading strikers, something he is already well on his way to achieving.

And here lies the problem for Everton.

It appears they will take no part in European competition next season, something that will disappoint a player of Lukaku’s ability. The Belgian will surely be looking to establish himself at a top European club who can offer him Champions League football on a yearly basis, and given his ability you can definitely see why.

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The striker belongs in the Champions League, or it’s understudy the Europa League at the very least, but unable to guarantee him this, Everton face the reality of losing their prime asset – and who could blame him if he tells the club he wants to move on?

It’s certainly possible that he may decide to stay at the club for another season and help them push once again for a top four finish, but failure to achieve this would surely mark the end of his time at Everton. Last month Lukaku publically revealed his ambition to arrive at a top club again, and having been linked with a summer move to Wolfsburg by Mirror Sport, it would be no surprise to see him move on at the end of the season.

The German outfit are well and truly on the up, and having impressed in the Bundesliga look set to take the Champions League by storm next season. Despite two loses to Everton in the group stages, they are firm favourites to lift the Europa League and would appear a perfect fit for Lukaku to take his career to the next level.

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With former Chelsea teammates Andre Schurrle and Kevin De Bruyne having benefited from a move to Wolfsburg, the Belgian would surely be tempted given the kind of talented squad they are beginning to assemble.

And with the Toffees typically regarded as a selling club, there will surely come a time when they will agree to cash in on the striker for a decent profit. Whether it will be this year remains to be seen, but if I were the Everton chairman I would already be lining up a replacement for when the inevitable happens.

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It’s hardly as if next month’s North London derby needs much in the way of over-hyping  although given the respective paths that both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal’s seasons are taking, it’s already shaping up to be something of a season defining fixture.

If you’re a fan on the red side of North London, you’re probably likely to be able to afford yourself something in the way of a wry smile. Arsenal fans have experienced as many false dawns from their N17 rivals as most of us have had hot dinners and Tottenham’s magnificent self-destruction last season ensured you still have to go back to 1995 to find the last time they finished above the Gunners.

Although while the ‘mind the gap’ cries from Spurs supporters last year still tends to evoke an unbearable cringe, the sense of inevitability that seemed to wrap itself around Arsenal’s surge to finish above their rivals last season, doesn’t feel quite so apparent this time around.

Now unbeaten in 10 within the Premier League, this Tottenham side isn’t without its issues, but they seem to have developed a new, previously absent steel to their mentality. Should they beat Arsenal at home come March 3rd, providing both sides win their next league game (against West Ham United and Aston Villa respectively) the gap between them will stretch to seven points, with only ten games left to play.

However you choose to frame next month’s clash between them, while it would be dabbling in a little too much hyperbole to label it as a date with destiny, a win for either side here can go a long way to determine who will end up playing Champions League football next term. And for Tottenham Hotspur, it represents the chance to banish the demons of last season once and for all.

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It’s a year to the day that Harry Redknapp’s side took Newcastle United apart 5-0 at home, jolting them into a comfortable 10 point lead over Arsenal in the Premier League table and only five points behind then leaders Manchester United. The subsequent car crash that followed needs little in the way of another autopsy, although it seems somewhat poignant that Spurs’ upcoming fixture comes at such a time in the season.

Similarly to last season, bar the upcoming fixture away to West Ham, Spurs come off the back of a win against Newcastle heading into a North London derby with their destiny seemingly in their own hands. The gap may be slightly less this year and the optimism notably shallower, although the fixture has just as much potential to do such similar damage – not just to Spurs, but to Arsenal, too.

It may well be pointless trying to simulate recent history, but had Spurs won – or merely even avoided defeat last term – it still feels difficult to have foreseen them implode in quite the way they did. Redknapp’s flirting with the England job and Daniel Levy’s reluctance to spend all played their part, although the symbolism of the 5-2 hammering they took at the Emirates last year, seemed to leave the side shell-shocked as they entered the final straight off the Premier League season.

This season, Spurs have of course already taken an identical hit in the same fixture; although the difference is that they’ve managed to ride that shell shock out. The inevitable surge from Arsene Wenger’s team following that imperious win simply hasn’t come and instead of increasing their one point league over their rivals, they now sit four points behind them.

And whereas last season Arsenal had the comforts of the Emirates support to revitalise their season against Spurs, this year they’ll be heading to White Hart Lane to begin the effort to push into the season’s sprint finish. A win away to Villas-Boas’ side has the ability to symbolise just as crushing a blow as their home demolition did last term and wipe the gap out with plenty of football left to play. Losing however, could leave Arsene Wenger’s men with a very difficult job indeed to finish above their bitter rivals.

Who has the most to lose next month? For Spurs, the loss has the ability to inflict a very painful mental strike and although there’s plenty of football left to play, the triple whammy of games against Everton, Chelsea and Manchester City in April, will leave them with plenty to consider.

Although while a loss for Spurs puts them on a near-even keel with the Gunners, should Wenger’s team fail to take anything from White Hart Lane, they’ll find themselves heading into the season’s run in extremely difficult circumstances indeed.

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While it would be naïve at best to pre-empt a Spurs win at Upton Park on the 25th of this month, should the status quo in points remain and Arsenal fall seven points behind following the North London derby, they’re looking at having to pick up little short of maximum points from their final run of games. Last season, they managed nine wins in eight following their 5-2 win in the North London derby. Whether this side – without the talents of Robin van Persie – are capable of such a feat, remains to be seen.

Both Andre Villas-Boas and Arsene Wenger are likely to view next month’s derby, for all its spice, verve and history, as little more than another fixture on the road to attaining a top four finish. But perhaps this season, more than ever in recent tines, there really is more than just bragging rights at stake in this fixture.

Back in November Villas-Boas spoke extensively about how Spurs “have to” finish above Arsenal in the league this year. Beat them at White Hart Lane next month and his side could make one giant stride towards making that concept a reality.

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According to O Jogo, West Ham United are interested in signing Sporting Lisbon midfielder Rodrigo Battaglia in this summer’s transfer window.

What’s the story?

West Ham have not yet guaranteed their Premier League position for the 2018-19 campaign, but the Hammers took a big step towards top-flight survival by beating fellow strugglers Southampton on Saturday afternoon.

It is understood that plans for this summer’s transfer window are well underway, with West Ham prepared to spend in a bid to avoid another difficult season.

According to O Jogo, the London club are closely monitoring the performances of Sporting midfielder Battaglia, with the 26-year-old identified as the perfect player to boost David Moyes’ options in the middle of the park.

It would not be a surprise if West Ham, who have also been linked with Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson, faced a battle from a number of clubs if Sporting decided to sell, but the appeal of London would place the Hammers in a strong position.

What are Battaglia’s credentials?

The former Argentina Under-20 international is valued at £5.9m by transfermarkt.co.uk, and that is not a figure that would put West Ham off this summer.

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It has been a busy campaign for the midfielder, who has scored three times and registered three assists in 46 appearances in all competitions for his Portuguese club.

Battaglia actually started his professional career with Huracan in Argentina, before a short spell at Racing Club led to a move to Braga in the summer of 2014.

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The Argentine moved to Sporting in last summer’s transfer window, and his performances throughout the season have reportedly attracted a host of interest.

Ar 6ft 1inches, Battaglia certainly has the physical attributes to operate in the Premier League, and it could well turn out to be a bargain buy for West Ham at the end of the season.

Since Wayne Rooney has switched to play in a midfield position, Manchester United have lost the influence of one of their best attacking players. Rooney does have the ability to play in central midfield due to the work rate and passing ability of the England captain. However, Van Gaal’s desire to accommodate both Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao up front has meant that Rooney has been consistently played out of position.

There has been a lot of criticism surrounding United’s attacking play this season. At times they appear almost one dimensional, with Sam Allardyce claiming that the Red Devils adopted the long ball approach against his side at the weekend. One of the reasons behind this rather sluggish play is the fact that their attack lacks any real pace. Both Falcao and van Persie are not the quickest, whilst Angel Di Maria is the only player in United’s midfield to possesses any real speed. Clearly, this is an issue for Van Gaal as the team cannot unlock defences due to the slow, laboured build-up play.

As well as an absence of rapidity in the side, playing Wayne Rooney out of position is costing Van Gaal. Rooney is yet to score or provide an assist in 2015 – he hasn’t even registered a shot on target. At the beginning of the season, it looked as if a lot of United’s problems would lay at the base of their team. However, the basis of United’s problem couldn’t stem from more of an opposite effect. On paper, the attacking options Van Gaal has available at his disposal looks very encouraging. Although there is still a lot of attacking class in the team, things are not coming together for United in the final third.

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Van Gaal has looked to set up in a diamond formation in recent weeks, with Di Maria playing in behind the two strikers. This has left Wayne Rooney in a deeper role, denying him the opportunity to contribute as much as he would like to United’s attacking play. It is looking more and more likely that Van Gaal will have to adjust his team yet again this season.

Although he has quality players available, the system simply doesn’t suit his captain. The Dutchman may have to consider sacrificing either Falcao or van Persie in order to allow Rooney to play in his preferred advance role. The former Everton man is United’s second top goalscorer this season behind van Persie. His lack of goals in 2015 should be a cause for concern for Van Gaal and he should be looking to fix things sooner rather than later.

Rooney’s recent struggles could also be bad news for England as well. If he keeps being played out of position it will likely impact the national side negatively, with Hodgson tending to prefer Rooney in a more advanced role. It might be difficult for Rooney to quickly adapt to a more attacking mindset for his country when he is playing his club football in a deeper midfield position.

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It looks as if Manchester United have wasted Wayne Rooney in recent weeks due to the fact that he hasn’t been able to get involved in United’s forward as often as he should. He has been a real problem for West Ham in recent seasons due to his goalscoring form against the East London side, but on Sunday he was almost non-existent in terms of an attacking threat. If Van Gaal wants to see more from his Manchester United side, he should opt to play his captain in his more favoured position, as he looks a frustrated figure in midfield at the moment.

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Southampton’s decision to relieve Nigel Adkins of his duties and immediately replace him with former Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino last week was quite rightly labelled a harsh move by the club’s chairman Nicola Cortese considering the form of the improving side, but did the 47-year-old lose the image battle more than anything else? And is this simply the latest instalment in an increasingly clear trend of clubs favouring ideas over experience?

There had been rumblings that Adkins was at risk after the newly-promoted team’s patchy start to life in the top flight, but enjoying a heroes status among the fans after leading the club to two successive promotions, it was thought that Cortese would be unable to justify removing such a popular figurehead, especially when you consider that the original plan laid out by the Italian owner included a five-year plan for promotion back to the promised land of the Premier League, not just two.

Cortese released a statement with the following: “This decision has been made with the long-term ambitions of Southampton Football Club in mind. Whilst we acknowledge the contribution Nigel has made during the past two years, for the Club to progress and achieve our long-term targets a change was needed. Mauricio is a well-respected coach of substantial quality who has gained a reputation as an astute tactician and excellent man manager. I have every confidence that he will inspire our talented squad of players to perform at the highest possible level.”

He goes on to talk about the Argentine’s record at nurturing youth prospects, something Adkins was also extremely adept at considering the involvement of the likes of Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse this term at such tender ages, while the timing of the dismissal also seemed extremely odd at first, with Southampton having lost just two of their last 12 games and having secured laudable draws against both Arsenal and Chelsea. They were 15th at the time of the sacking, three points clear of safety and picking up points regularly and starting to look more and more like a team that had enough in the tank to stay up.

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Of course, Cortese is known to be something of an egotist and will have no doubt have been put out by the fans continued support of Adkins despite their poor early season form and penchant for letting in bundles of sloppy goals, treating it as a personal affront. He has previous when it comes to clashing heads and sacking perfectly qualified managers, with current Newcastle boss Alan Pardew also unfathomably dismissed back in September 2010.

Similar to how Manchester City prepared for Roberto Mancini’s arrival by letting Mark Hughes take the brunt of a tough sequence of games, Cortese approached Pochettino weeks ago, seemingly anticipating that the side would lose against both Arsenal and Chelsea, leaving them some way closer to the drop zone, thus making the decision somewhat easier to justify. That’s not only reprehensible, it’s depressingly cynical.

Pochettino may well go on to be a success on the south coast, with the early signs of his pressing style visible during an excellent first half performance against Everton before tiring late on. He has a clear plan and ideology, which seems to be the most attractive principles around to prospective chairman these days above other qualifications such as experience and silverware. He may well be to the club what Pardew was to Newcastle after Chris Hughton was ridiculously sacked.

His sacking at Espanyol back in November was widely seen as a reluctant one; the board loved him, the fans did too, and he’d done a marvellous job to make the club so competitive and entertaining with such a paucity of resources, with the cash-strapped outfit forced to sell off star players at every turn, including Jose Callejon to Real Madrid, Victor Ruiz to Napoli and Daniel Osvaldo to Roma.

The BBC profile piece on him introducing him to the wider English world hailed him as a “forward-thinking and thoroughly modern coach.” Now, I’m not entirely sure what that means. Are there backward-thinking managers out there? Are there ‘keep it steady, don’t rock the boat’ centrists? Is it merely an age issue? Are older managers being phased out because they lack a clear footballing ‘philosophy’? It would seem so.

Liverpool have 39-year-old Brendan Rodgers in charge, appointed off the back of one season of top flight experience at Swansea. Tottenham have 35-year-old Andre Villas-Boas at the helm, a man who managed his first team at the age of just 21, while 39-year-old Roberto Martinez at Wigan is casually referred to as a ‘footballing purist’, quite what that means is anyone’s guess, but it’s clear, just as much with styles of football, a hierarchy has been formed in terms of the crucial currency of status – young is good, old is bad, in-between like Adkins is just plain dangerous.

We’ve certainly moved away from the days of the ‘old boys club’, whereby a decent playing career would inevitably set you up for life as a manager, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing by any stretch, it’s a welcome one, but it’s when this shift starts claiming the scalps of credible managers such as Adkins for shinier, newer managers like Pochettino that it starts to get worrying.

It’s very telling that in the list of managers to have taken charge of the most Premier League games, with the usual lot of Ferguson, Wenger, Redknapp, Moyes, Allardyce and O’Neill at the top, that George Graham is still sixth with 332 games despite not having managed in the league since 2001. Alan Curbishley is joint-seventh on 328 games even though he has been unemployed since leaving West Ham in 2008. Graeme Souness is ninth on 319 games, without a job since Newcastle in 2006. New Scotland coach Gordon Strachan hasn’t managed in the top tier since 2004 with Southampton but is 12th. Joe Kinnear, an 18-game spell at Newcastle aside, hasn’t been around since leaving Wimbledon in 1999. It’s taking on an increasingly ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality.

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The attraction with a young manager is clear – they are vibrant, media-friendly and come with 100-page dossiers on what their style means and how best they can implement it. Some dip their toes too far into manager speak, with ‘going forward’ and other made up words like ‘diversivise’ or ‘conversate’, gradually helping corporate, middle-management jargon infiltrate the game; language that’s sole objective in mind is to make the person using it sound more intelligent than they actually are and their ideas appear more worthy of listening to.

Football needs to evolve and fresh ideas are a positive step on the well-worn path of progress (see, I can do it too), but they should not come at the expense of proven managerial talent that’s been successful elsewhere in their career, otherwise, what’s the point of it all? All managers need to get their break in the game somewhere, but now it’s happening right at the top and is used as a statement of intent by owners to the fans, ‘look, we’ve appointed a young coach, aren’t we progressive’.

It’s not reckless, but it’s a gamble, a risky move that has become an accepted truth which has helped give birth to an established trend, with the spiel that these appointments have both ‘the long-term and short-term’ of the club in mind, therefore insinuating that appointing an older manager doesn’t. Every club now looks as if they’re trying to build a lasting legacy, which is admirable, but as with all trends, it’s just not realistic.

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According to The Mirror, Aston Villa are considering a move for veteran goalkeeper Brad Jones at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.

What’s the story?

Sam Johnstone is currently Villa’s number one goalkeeper, with the 24-year-old impressing for the club since joining on loan from Manchester United.

It is understood that Villa have been told that it will take £6.5m to sign Johnstone on a permanent deal this summer, which would be very difficult for the club if they did not manage to secure promotion from the Championship this season.

According to The Mirror, Villa have a back-up option if they fail to sign Johnstone, with 35-year-old goalkeeper Jones in the mix.

The former Liverpool stopper helped Feyenoord win the Dutch title last term, but he will be out of contract at the end of next season, and Villa would hardly have to break the bank in order to sign the Australian at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.

Would Jones be a good signing?

Jones has been in the professional game since 2001, and he represented Middlesbrough as a first-team player for nine years before leaving for Liverpool in 2010.

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The stopper only made 11 Premier League appearances during five years at Anfield, however, before joining Bradford City in 2015.

Jones moved away from the English game with NEC in 2016, before switching to Feyenoord, where he has helped the club win their first league title in 18 years.

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The Australian’s form for Feyenoord has been very impressive, and it has previously been suggested that he would be open to a return to England this summer.

There is no question that Villa’s first choice is Johnstone, but Jones would be a decent option if Financial Fair Play restrictions prevented Steve Bruce’s side from spending big this summer.

After suffering back-to-back Premier League defeats, the Hammers fans didn’t have an awful lot to shout about over the festive period.

West Ham kicked off their Christmas fixtures with a tough trip to table-toppers Chelsea on Boxing Day. Sam Allardyce’s side travelled to Stamford Bridge full of optimism, but they also knew just how difficult a task that stood in front of them. The Hammers boss rested a couple of his big guns in Diafra Sakho and Alex Song, and subsequently ended up on the wrong side of a 2-0 scoreline. West Ham were second best for the majority of the game, and goals either side of half time from John Terry and Diego Costa was enough to give the Blues the points.

But West Ham’s clash with Arsenal two days later was a completely different game. Allardyce recalled Sakho and Song back to the starting line-up for the visit of Arsene Wenger’s side. The Gunners ended up winning the game 2-1, but it could have so easily been a completely different outcome. Ex-Arsenal midfielder Song had a superb 20-yard volley controversially disallowed for offside after just five minutes – then a debatable Santi Cazorla penalty and a Danny Welbeck strike put Arsenal surprisingly 2-0 up the break. Big Sam’s side rallied and pulled one back through Cheikhou Kouyate shortly after half time. They pressed until the final whistle – but Wenger’s side did enough to secure the win.

But the Hammers’ disappointing festive period must not take anything away from what has been an incredible campaign at Boleyn Ground thus far. This time last year, West Ham were easily beaten 3-1 by the Gunners on Boxing Day, before a 3-3 home draw with West Bromwich Albion. The Hammers went into the New Year second from bottom – with just 15 points gained from 19 games. This season though, after the same amount of matches, the east London club sit 6th in the Premier League table, with 31 points banked already.

It’s a remarkable achievement from West Ham, considering Allardyce was heavily tipped to part way with the Hammers in the summer. Even after the disappointment of losing to a 90th goal against rivals Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day, what they’ve accomplished since is nothing short of exceptional.

It’s imperative for the Hammers that they get straight back on track against West Brom this afternoon. The Baggies are currently without a boss after the sacking of Alan Irvine yesterday, and Allardyce’s side must take full advantage and get back to winning ways. The defeats to Chelsea and Arsenal were the first time the Hammers have lost back-to-back games this season. The next few games will paint a clearer picture of just how good the Hammers are. After welcoming West Brom, West Ham face a trip to Swansea City before entertaining relegations strugglers Hull at the Boleyn Ground.

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Whatever happens from now to the end of the season must not take anything away from West Ham’s incredible progress this season. The bookies had the Hammers down for another season of struggling and another dogged fight for survival. But after already gaining nine wins so far – including excellent victories over Manchester City and Liverpool – it has already been a season to remember for the Upton Park faithful.

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