John Hartson opted to compare West Ham with Arsenal ahead of the new season and delivered his verdict on the Hammers’ summer transfer business.
The BT Sports pundit shared that while he does expect the Hammers’ London rivals to finish higher in the Premier League next season, he did share that he believes exciting times were afoot at the London Stadium.
Hartson who played for both West Ham and the Gunners during his career shared that he was intrigued to see how Manuel Pellegrini would cope with integrating all of his new signings into his team.
“Obviously at Arsenal you’ve got a new manager and I think the expectations at Arsenal are probably slightly higher than they are at West Ham,” the current BT Sports pundit told the Daily Star.
“It’s a difficult one, I would probably have to say Arsenal because West Ham have signed so many players and we don’t really know how that’s going to go.
“It’s a great positive sign to the fans but they’ve signed so many in one go, all decent fees, lot of them for good deals.
“So I would probably say Arsenal will finish the higher, but it’s a trickier time for Arsenal and exciting times at West Ham, just because of the expectation levels.
“When I say that, don’t take anything away from the expectation levels of the West Ham fans, they want to see Pellegrini do well, they’ve gone all out to get a top manager.
“Whereas with Pellegrini at West Ham, he’s been given funds but that adds pressure when you spend all that money, so he’s got to integrate all them players into the good players he already has.”
OPINION
Hartson has clearly been impressed with the Hammers’ transfer business this summer as he refers to the club getting decent prices on all of their new recruits. While the retired forward may still be backing Arsenal to finish higher in the Premier League next season, the fact he isn’t 100% confident is a fantastic sign. The Hammers finished 13th in the league last season with 21 points less than the Gunners who ended up sitting sixth in the division. So for Hartson to even consider the possibility that Pellegrini’s side could find themselves higher than the Gunners shows how much positivity is surrounding the club this summer following their transfer business. While Hammers supporters will not want to get carried away as last summer it looked as if the club had done well in the transfer window, it’s going to be hard not to start believing that the good times are about to return to the club. Hopefully under Pellegrini’s guidance the Hammers are set to have a very enjoyable 2018/19 campaign.
