Darren Bent reels off 'ridiculous' list as West Ham told promotion is a certainty

Darren Bent is certain West Ham United are heading for an instant return to the Premier League.

The Hammers' first season back in the second tier in 15 seasons started badly with no wins from their first three matches.

United squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Burnley, before losing 2-1 at home to Charlton Athletic and drawing 1-1 at Watford.

But Nuno's men have finally found some form of late thanks to successive wins over Wolves and Derby County.

West Ham are now strong favourites to beat Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night to continue their ascent up the division.

While the Irons may be a couple of points outside the top two, Bent says it would be a "travesty" if they fail to go up automatically.

Why West Ham failure would be a 'travesty'

West Ham were heavily backed to go back up before a ball had even been kicked.

Should they make it three wins from three on Tuesday, not many will be budging from those predictions.

And in the view of former striker Bent, West Ham's squad means anything less is simply not on.

"You look at their squad. They've got Joel Piroe, the Golden Boot winner the last time he was in the division," Bent said on talkSPORT on Monday evening.

"Taty Castellanos is a good player; Divine Mukasa; Jarrod Bowen, an England international; plus Arne Engels now as well

"Manor Solomon as well; Konstantinos Mavropanos and Max Kilman. If West Ham don't go up, it's a travesty."

Co-host Andy Goldstein simply replied to Bent reeling off the list of names with the one-word reply: "Ridiculous."

Why we could be about to learn an awful lot about West Ham

The Hammers have got back on track with a couple of much-needed home wins.

But two points from the six on offer away from home is not a great return, albeit one of those games was at Turf Moor.

Incredibly, West Ham have never drawn their first three away games of a league campaign at any level.

If Nuno's men pick up that first away win of the campaign in midweek, it really will be all systems go.