Sky Sports data analyst predicts European finish for West Ham
Sky Sports data analyst Adam Smith has predicted a top-five finish for West Ham at the end of the 2020/21 Premier League season.
In a report on their website, Smith revealed a projected final standings table based on current ratios for goals scored, conceded and points per game.
The table suggests that West Ham would finish the season in 5th place with 67 points and a goal difference of +14. It predicts that we would miss out on the Champions League spaces on goal difference. We’d finish four points above last seasons league winners, Liverpool.
We’d take that
What a result that would be! To go from relegation battlers to European football in the space of 18 months would be a monumental achievement for Moyes and co.
We’re not getting carried away, though. Despite this being arguably the best West Ham team seen since the turn of the century, there’s still a lot of football left to be played.
As it stands, we’re in 5th position on 42 points having played 24 matches. Everton, Spurs and Aston Villa below us all have games in hand and opportunities to push further up the table. You could argue that the advantage does sit with us, as we’ve already got the points on the board.
We’ve also got one of the tougher run in’s of all the sides pushing for the top five. Further down in the article, Smith discusses a table from the Football Observatory. It’s based on shots on target attempted and conceded, ball possession, and final third passes amongst other things. It predicts the Hammers will come seventh on 62 points, still very good.
It says that the average position of our remaining opponents is 9.9, and that they average 1.44 points per game. It means that of the top seven, we have the third hardest run in. Our only run of fixtures against bottom-half opposition is the last three games. We face Brighton, West Brom and Southampton.
Our next five matches are huge. We have home matches against Spurs, Leeds and Arsenal with trips to Manchester City and Manchester United in between. If we can get through these matches, and maintain our good form, the last three games could work in our favour massively.
In other West Ham news, here’s a closer look at our next five games.