WHZ View: Incredible points stat underlines West Ham success in Premier League
West Ham and David Moyes have enjoyed a brilliant first half of the season and it has been highlighted by one statistic in particular.
Uncovered by TheOther14, it was revealed that West Ham, level with Southampton, have taken the most points from teams outside the top six this season.
From the 11 games that West Ham have played against the teams outside of the top six, they have taken an impressive 24 points, with more of those coming away from home as well.
The Irons have only lost five games from their 17 Premier League matches this season and those defeats have come against Newcastle, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.
Ignoring the opening day defeat to Newcastle as something of a blip, it is an incredible record that has put the Hammers to within a touching distance of not only the Europa League spots but the top four as well.
Along the way, the Hammers have also drawn against Tottenham, Manchester City and more than held their own away to Chelsea, with a 3-0 scoreline flattering Frank Lampard’s side.
Beating those around you is going to continue to prove invaluable for West Ham during the second half of the campaign if they want to maintain a push for European qualification.
Importantly, four of West Ham’s next five Premier League fixtures come against teams who make up ‘the other 14’, with Liverpool also due to travel to the London Stadium later this month.
If the Hammers can continue their impressive record against the teams around then this month, they will start 2021 in the best possible fashion.
Slaven Bilic recorded West Ham’s best Premier League points finish during the 2015/16 season with 62.
Prediction specialists FiveThirtyEight currently believe that the Hammers will finish just short of that on 56, but if they continue in this form, it will rank as one of the club’s best Premier League points totals in their history.
They have only ever finished with more than 56 points in the Premier League on two occasions, meaning it could be a memorable campaign for Moyes and co.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers would be landing one of the stars of the future in Moises Caicedo