Tony Cottee shares West Ham United relegation verdict after ‘Dreadful’ developments
Tony Cottee has discussed possible relegation at West Ham United after what he saw in the 1-0 defeat against Brentford on Saturday.
The Hammers have had it rough this season and currently sit 16th in the Premier League table, 10 points clear of the drop zone.
While Graham Potter’s men managed to perform to a much better standard in the second half of their game against the Bees, it was nowhere near good enough.
Speaking about West Ham’s performances this season, Cottee shared his thoughts on whether they have what it takes to earn Premier League survival.
West Ham United may face Premier League relegation
The 2024/25 season has been way off the pace for West Ham when you look at where they were expected to end up this season.
The sacking of David Moyes failed to pay off and, as Julen Lopetegui’s reign at the London Stadium was questionable, to say the least, the Hammers have been put on the back foot.
Speaking live on talkSPORT (18 February, 08:08am), Cottee shared his thoughts on whether his former team have what it takes to survive in the Premier League this season.
“Graham has a lot of work to do, there’s a lot of stuff that needs to be done in the summer,” he said.
“I was there on Saturday, I went to the game and the first half was dreadful, it really was the poorest they’ve played under Graham Potter.
“To be fair to him, he made the three changes and all three players made a real difference.
“If Kudus scores the one that’s cut across to him to get them back on level terms, I think West Ham would have won the game.
“It wasn’t quite as bad in the second half but the first half was poor.
“It’s a big job, there’s no two ways about it, they’ve just got limp over the line because they’re sort of flirting with relegation at the moment and if they don’t get a couple of wins, they’ll get sucked into it.”
West Ham should have enough to avoid Premier League relegation
On paper, Potter has a fairly strong team at his disposal with the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus among his first-team players.
While injuries have no doubt hindered the Hammers’ progress this season, compared to the likes of Tottenham, their absences have been nothing.
Indeed, marquee summer signing Niclas Fullkrug has been sidelined for the vast majority of the season which hasn’t helped matters much, but, David Sullivan and Tim Steidten should have prepared better, especially with the German’s injury history.
West Ham may be sat in 16th place but with their gap to the bottom three being a decent 10 points, they should be more than safe, especially if they manage to beat Leicester on 27 February.
However, if they don’t manage to triumph over Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men at the end of the month, their gap would be cut to seven which feels like a far more precarious number.