Hammers are giving it a real go this time
YOU can count on one finger the clubs in the southern half of the country who have given themselves an outside chance of breaking up the cartel of six at the top of the Premier League. It’s West Ham. The rest are concerned with scrapping to avoid relegation – or at best striving for mid-table mediocrity.
Leicester, Champions just two years ago, probably come into the second category. But the others – Southampton, Watford, Swansea, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Brighton – are concerned only with where they finish in the bottom-half of the table.
The Hammers, though, are different. They made a conscious decision this summer to, at least, try to be competitive and attempt to make sure the Big Six don’t have things all their own way.
They have made significant acquisitions in the transfer market — Marko Arnautovic for a club record £20m, Javier Hernandez for a bargain £16m, Pablo Zabaleta on a free, Joe Hart on loan.
It may not be enough to see them finish higher than seventh or eighth, but unlike most of the others, West Ham’s owners David Gold and David Sullivan are giving it a go.
Many analysts believe that only the order in which the top-six clubs finish is in doubt. But the Hammers are aiming to be the ones who benefit if any of them slip.
Of course, they have a financial advantage over most of the others with their bargain basement rental deal on their 60,000 capacity stadium.
Nonetheless, it’s a welcome statement of intent in a Premier League that looks increasingly like two separate divisions and finishing “best of the rest” is not to be sniffed at.
Of course, the summer investment – as much on salaries as on fees – will put pressure on Slaven Bilic to deliver. At one point last season, he was perilously close to being sacked.
Historically, West Ham show more patience than most with their managers, but the Croat must produce the goods now he’s been given the tools.
Of the others, Leicester’s purchase of Kelechi Iheanacho looks a big positive – until you consider that it seems certain to be balanced out by the loss of Riyad Mahrez and perhaps a couple of others from their title squad.
It’s a big season for Craig Shakespeare, who is now the flag-bearer for English managers in terms of the relative status of clubs in the Premier League.
The Foxes’ Thai owners put trust in Claudio Ranieri’s former assistant to stop the rot last season and he did just that.
They then had no real choice but to buck the trend of appointing foreign coaches and give him the job full-time.
But it’s always difficult for a No. 2 to make a go of such a promotion after the initial bounce, and there will be a lot of English coaches rooting for Shakespeare to succeed this season.