West Ham in no-man’s land between aspiration and desperation

West Ham United are never too far from a must-win game and if the sight of their fans fighting each other in Saturday’s five-goal defeat by Arsenal didn’t illustrate their current state, then a glance at the Premier League table certainly does.

The Hammers are outliers in an otherwise concertinaed table, where the vast majority of teams are within one or two points of another. Three points behind Bournemouth, in 13th, yet four points ahead of 15th-placed Everton, they are the one team who don’t seem to have decided yet whether they belong with the European hopefuls or the relegation battlers.

It’s a situation that has made life uncomfortable for Julen Lopetegui, the former Spain, Real Madrid and Wolves manager whose arrival in the summer was supposed to usher in a new era at the London Stadium of progressive continental football.

Instead he finds himself under the microscope, with reports that he is on borrowed time with the West Ham hierarchy preceding recent games and bookmakers eagerly touting the likes of Michael Carrick and Maurizio Sarri as his possible replacement.

On paper, Lopetegui can have few complaints. He has lost six of his 13 Premier League games, five of which have seen them concede three or more goals. Performances have also gone down like a plate of cold pie and mash, save for last week’s unexpected 2-0 win at Newcastle United, which probably bought the Basque coach some extra time.

But Tuesday’s trip to Leicester City – one of only three teams to have lost more games than them but who are seeking a bounce from new manager Ruud van Nistelrooy – feels like it could have a big say in what happens next.

Beat the Foxes and West Ham can join Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Manchester United in a pack of seven teams separated by just two points, but lose and they will be dragged into the six-team swamp below. A Ruud awakening indeed.

In Lopetegui’s defence, he has had to do without some key players for extended periods. The return of Mohammed Kudus from a five-game ban, then, is cause for hope, as is the news that Germany striker Niclas Fullkrug may soon be fit to make a first Premier League start. 

And as much as rumours about West Ham managers being sacked swirl wherever the team goes through a rocky patch, the hierarchy – whether out of loyalty or reluctance to fork out for a pay-off – has been reluctant to pull the trigger. In the last seven years only Manuel Pellegrini has been axed mid-season.

The board may feel their hand forced by what happens in the coming seven days, however. Next up after Leicester is a Monday night visit from Wolves – another of the few teams below them in the table, but who are showing more signs of life.

A win against one of these two strugglers might be enough to stave off the sack for Lopetegui, but anything less would leave him looking exposed as the frantic festive schedule approaches. 

Bobbing about in the no-man’s land between aspiration and desperation, it’s time for the 2023 Europa Conference League winners to show what sort of season they are going to have: one which sees them reinfiltrate the division’s middle class, or one in which the scrapping won’t be restricted to the stands.