Frank McAvennie aims dig at Tottenham as West Ham finish above them
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie has aimed a dig at Tottenham after West Ham beat them to qualify for the Europa League for next season.
Spurs will have to make do with the new Europa Conference League after finishing in seventh place – three points behind David Moyes’ Hammers.
Although it was a huge achievement to finish sixth and qualify for the Europa League, McAvennie cannot help but feel that injuries to Declan Rice and Angelo Ogbonna played a major role in them failing to finish in the top-four.
In the end, West Ham were just two points shy of Chelsea. One more win would have done it.
But McAvennie is refusing to complain too much as he’s happy with a spot in the Europa League and even more delighted to see his former club finish above Spurs.
“It’s a great achievement for Tottenham to get into the Europa Conference League,” joked McAvennie as he made a dig at Spurs in an exclusive interview with West Ham Zone.
“It (Europa League qualification for West Ham) is absolutely brilliant. But this is from my heart, I do believe if Declan didn’t get injured, we would have made the Champions League.
“I think there were a couple of points dropped and no disrespect to the rest, but they were on a run and he was the catalyst for that.
“He just had freedom alongside [Tomas] Soucek, they played well together and everyone around them knew what they were doing.
“It’s unfortunate but it happens. Ogbonna was also injured. That’s two big injuries, two losses.
“We’d have got enough points if they didn’t get injured.
“But I’m not too bothered about it because this is what they wanted – they wanted West Ham to fight for Europe and this is it, they’ve qualified for the Europe League.
“Good luck to them.”
We were so close – so close to that fourth spot.
Just 10 points separated third-placed Liverpool and 10th-placed Everton in the end in what was one of the closest races for Europe in Premier League history.
It’s such a shame we came that close and McAvennie is right, we probably were just unlucky in those last few weeks that injuries threw a spanner into the works.
It shows that more strength in depth is needed and a back-up for Rice shouldn’t be overlooked in the summer.
In other West Ham news, this “frustrated” fan favourite has dropped a hint about his future amid talk of him moving on.
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