West Ham’s Premier League points total revealed

After the Sunderland game, my ears are ringing with some football buzzwords that are rife with cautious optimism. Since we’ve grabbed those precious three points, general opinion is that we’re “all but safe,” “nearly safe,” that we’ve “almost guaranteed” survival, and we’ve “effectively banished… relegation fears.” Add this to Sam Allardyce’s eerie singing of “we’re nearly safe,” and one has to conclude that we’re almost there.

We’re so close we can almost taste a third consecutive season in the Premier League…but there is that annoying matter that we still have another six games to play before we can actually breathe a massive sigh of relief. With that in mind, here’s a look at who we still have to face before we can breathe easy—and how we might fare against them.

Liverpool

Currently top of the league with arguably the most proficient strike force in the Premier League, I’m not expecting a lot from Sunday’s meeting with Liverpool—particularly as they are probably still buzzing after annihilating £100 million worth of Spurs flops last weekend. Still, a strong defensive stance plus tight marking on “SAS” means we could walk away with our heads high— but I’m not expecting points from this one.

Arsenal

Here’s the odd one – Arsenal are sitting fourth at the time of writing, but their form has been shocking of late. A run of only two wins in eight games doesn’t compare well for them to our five wins in eight games. Plus, we did a lot better against Chelsea than they did… although then again, the same applies to, erm, Crystal Palace. Their injuries have been horrendous and, at the time of writing, only Aaron Ramsey has the potential to return before our match—which is good news for the Hammers. Arsenal are still title contenders by the skin of their teeth, but we should absolutely push for a point here.

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace are dragging themselves out of the relegation zone, and their (admittedly) deserved win against Chelsea could inspire some much needed fight in their survival bid. Where we have the advantage over them is that we’ve scored nearly double the amount of goals as they have this season, so we must head into this game with an attacking mindset and take all three points. After all, they are there for the taking.

West Bromwich Albion

West Brom are a team in turmoil – they sacked their manager only to do worse under someone else, they threw away three points in the last second of the game against Cardiff City, and then James Morrison punched Saido Berahino in the face after the match. I can’t see them surviving the Premier League, so we must chase the full three points here, and make certain we shut Berahino down this time—and hey, at least we don’t have to worry about Nicolas Anelka being on a hat trick again.

Tottenham Hotspur

Three points to us, and Tim Sherwood loses his mind and punches a mascot. Put money on it.

Manchester City

Let’s be realistic. It would take an outbreak of cholera in the water supply at their training ground for us to get anything at the Etihad—particularly if Liverpool continue their late surge for the title. The final game of the season could suddenly become very important to them. We just need to keep the goals to a minimum; and possibly not ask Roger Johnson to mark Yaya Toure.

It’s tough to play teams at the top of the table at this point in the season, but we must go into them believing we’ll stay up. We do have harder fixtures for the last few games compared to some (Fulham only have to play one team in the top half of the table and Cardiff don’t play any top six teams), but relegation rivals West Brom need to play Spurs, Arsenal, and Man City, while Sunderland have to play Spurs, Everton, Man City, Chelsea, and Man Utd – which doesn’t bode well for them to catch us up.

It’ll take a few more games before our safety is ensured, but similarly, if we put up a good fight, we’re still in the running for finishing tenth—and it’s worth pushing for.

What do you think of our last six games? How many points do you think we’ll walk away from this season with – and will it be enough? Let us know below, or tweet me @makingthemarrow