WHZ View: London is claret & blue – West Ham show rivals how it’s done in PL
David Moyes and his West Ham players are on a roll.
They’ve won five of their last six Premier League matches – as well as winning both of their FA Cup matches in that time – and sit fifth in the standings.
Only Manchester City, Manchester United, Leicester City and Liverpool sit above the Irons as it stands, with our London rivals all below us.
Football in the capital has taken a backwards step in recent years.
The Premier League title has only been won twice by a London club (both times Chelsea) in the last 10 seasons and it seems as though that run will make 11 seasons by the time this one’s over.
Why has it been left for West Ham to wave the flag of the capital?
Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham have all declined rapidly in the last couple of years with football in the North-West – and even the East Midlands – starting to have a better outlook than in London.
We’re over halfway through the current 2020/21 season and West Ham are the best team in the capital.
When’s the last time we finished above all of our local rivals in the English top-flight? You have to go all the way back to the 1985/86 season for that when the Hammers finished third behind only Liverpool and Everton.
In that season, West Ham Zone pundit Frank McAvennie lit up the goalscoring charts with 28 goals in all competitions while Tony Cottee, Tony Gale and Alvin Martin all shone in the East End of London.
Could we really recapture the magic of 85/86 and finish as London’s best team again?
If you look at current form, there’s no reason we can’t.
Out of the last six matches, only leaders Man City [18] have won more points than West Ham [15]. Arsenal are fifth in the form table with 11 points from their last six while even Crystal Palace feature above Chelsea and Spurs.
Moyes and his claret and blue army are showing our London rivals how it’s done this season.
You don’t need big-money signings, former players as your managers or tiki-taka football to do well in the Premier League.
You need a good, level-headed manager who knows his team’s strengths and weaknesses. You need a squad of hard-working yet technically gifted footballers. You need strength in depth and you need a system that suits those players.
West Ham have all that. And that’s why London is claret and blue right now.
In other West Ham news,