Proof that West Ham could’ve qualified for Europe

Andy Carroll isn’t the sort of player you would usually want to be getting up at 2am to watch on TV.

He is not a traditional crowd pleaser in terms of flair and passion.

But he has certainly made a significant impact to the squad since his return from injury.

Sam Allardyce copped some stick for suggesting the team would be knocking on the door of Europe had the big number nine been playing all season.

However, some simple, if not a bit crude, maths proves the manager right.

Carroll has scored two goals and had five assists (if you include the lunge of the Liverpool keeper the other day) in his ten appearances.

That roughly works out that every 1.5 games, he is responsible for a goal.

During the time he was injured, West Ham drew seven games. If we call it four games he would have created a goal in, that could be an extra 8 points.

The team also lost five by just one goal during that period. If Carroll had helped add three goals in those games, it could be an extra three points.

In total, that’s an extra 11 points for the season.

That puts us equal eighth with Southampton, a team we beat 3-1 at home, yet a team many fans seem to aspire to emulate.

We would then be in the league position Allardyce had set his side up to achieve at the start of the season.

Yes, there were oversights by not having a viable replacement up front, but the point remains, given the team he wanted to put out from the start of the season, we could be much healthier placed in the league.

Clearly, pushing on beyond eighth, and into European contention is going to take heavy investment. But again, with if we were sat on 48 points, and with Spurs still to play, may only be eight points off sixth.

The style of play debate aside, we invested heavily in Carroll, and he has proved he can be a difference.

Investment in two players who can be equally as influential in games will continue to build on the genuine progress that has been made in the past three years.