West Ham vs Wolves: Should we be taking the cup seriously this year?

West Ham are playing Wolves at the Boleyn on Saturday in the third round of the FA Cup. We are playing well at the moment, and are unbeaten in seven matches so keeping the winning mentality is key. But how disappointed would fans be if we went out of the cup at this early stage?

As it stands we are 6th in the Premier League table, four points off 4th place. It could be argued that we should be fully concentrating on our league position and pushing for Europe. FA cup games are always played at weekends, which would mean extra rests between games that could be vital later in the season. With the injuries to the squad as well, after a hectic festive period, it doesn’t seem like the worst case scenario if we did drop out early.

However, this is likely to be one our best chances in a while to get to a Wembley final. We have been given a beatable side at home this weekend, and even with a few changes we should be good enough to get through to the next round. The fourth round games will likely take place at the end of January, when we should have Payet, Moses, Reid, Sakho and possibly Lanzini back if the rest of the squad can stay fit. If Zarate stays then our squad should be big enough to deal with the cup and still push for Europe in the league. It is also worth remembering that if we managed to get to the final, that would probably be enough to qualify us for Europe.

In previous years our squads have been paper thin, and there isn’t any denying that this is the strongest West Ham side in recent seasons. So if it meant that we would drop a couple of places in the league but still qualify for Europe and have a decent cup run, surely it makes sense to play the strongest team and try to go one better than in 2006.

Would you rather see West Ham finish 6th and go out of the cup or finish 8th and get to the final?