Ben Wild

Tue 27 October 2020 16:10, UK

After West Ham lost on the opening day of the season to Newcastle United, there was a familiar sense of ‘here we go again’ amongst the Hammers’ fan base. 

That feeling only grew after David Moyes’ side were narrowly beaten by Arsenal in their second Premier League outing of the season.

But West Ham haven’t lost in the league since that 2-1 defeat to the Gunners and Hammers fans have seen a remarkable turnaround in both form and performances in recent weeks.

In the league the Hammers have beaten Wolves and Leicester convincingly and managed hard-fought draws against Tottenham and Manchester City. After a summer of discontent, it seems that West Ham have turned the corner and the mood is more positive around the London Stadium.

We have pinpointed some of the reasons as to why the Hammers are experiencing this upturn in form and why fans have every reason to be positive going forward.

Here are three reasons Hammers fans should be positive after West Ham’s start to the season:

1.) Moyes has found a system that works

After the loss to Newcastle, Moyes switched to a back five in an effort to strengthen his defence and add more attacking threat on the wings by playing two attacking full-backs. There was marked improvement against Arsenal but the result didn’t come. After having time to work on the system in training it has started to work like a well-oiled machine. The defence has plenty of cover now and Vladimir Coufal and Arthur Masuaku have the licence to join Moyes’ attack of choice in Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals.

With Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek developing and solid partnership in midfield, it looks as if Moyes has finally found a system that accommodates his best players while getting the best out of them.

2.) Never say die attitude

I think most West Ham fans will agree when we say that the best moment of the season so far was when Lanzini completed a very unlikely comeback against Tottenham. The final ten minutes of that game summed up the never say die attitude in this team and shows a togetherness that other West Ham teams of late haven’t shown. Most teams at 3-0 down with mere minutes to go would be sat back waiting for the game to end, but not this team. As soon as Fabian Balbuena got the first you could sense the belief that the result could be clawed back. This attitude will leave the Hammers in good stead as they look to avoid another relegation battle this season.

3.) Benrahma still to come in

This miraculous turnaround has all happened without marquee signing Said Benrahma stepping onto the pitch. He was identified as a man who could make things happen for the Hammers but with him yet to play, the mind races at the thought of him joining the in-form Hammers attack. The only problem for Moyes is, who does he drop. In our opinion, it will be Fornals who is dropped to make way for the former Brentford man. An attack of Bowen, Antonio and Benrahma could terrorise some defences in the Premier League and we can’t wait to see him make his debut.

In other West Ham news, the West Ham squad want Moyes to be handed a contract extension.