Nuno Espirito Santo must avoid embarrassing eight-year West Ham first vs Leeds United
West Ham take on Leeds United on Friday night in a game that could be pivotal for their season.
The Hammers have seen their woeful start to the new campaign continue under Nuno Espirito Santo, who remains winless after his first three games in charge.
West Ham will travel to face a Leeds United side who are enduring similar early-season concerns, with the newly promoted outfit currently sitting just a few places above their upcoming opponents in 16th.
The new Premier League season is still just over two months old, but this is already shaping up to be the sort of clash that could define both teams’ fortunes come May.
West Ham could lose consecutive games against newly-promoted teams
Nuno’s individual record against Leeds is excellent, and West Ham will be desperately hoping that continues in Friday night’s clash.
The Portuguese boss has tasted victory in all four of his competitive meetings with the Whites, and his teams have conceded just one goal across those games.
Even at such an early stage of the season, the upcoming encounter at Elland Road is shaping up to be a match that the E20 outfit simply cannot afford to lose, against a team who are likely to be one of their direct relegation rivals.
The Hammers have already tasted defeat against one newly-promoted side in Sunderland, when they were dismantled 3-0 away from home on the opening day of the season.
Nuno and his staff will be doing everything they can to ensure that isn’t repeated against Leeds United this weekend, as back-to-back defeats against such teams would be hugely concerning.
Leeds defeat would signal near eight-year first for the Hammers
The trip to Leeds is another difficult assignment for West Ham, especially given their recent struggles, and another defeat could be catastrophic for both the team and Nuno in the long term.
The newly-promoted teams are always prime candidates to suffer an immediate return to the second tier, and his weekend could spark an unwanted first for the Hammers.
| Opponent | H/A | Score | Date | West Ham Scorers | Opposition Scorers |
| Brighton | H | 3-0 | 20 October 2017 | – | Glenn Murray (2), Jose Izquierdo |
| Newcastle | H | 3-2 | 23 December 2017 | Marko Arnautovic, Andre Ayew | Henri Saivet, Mohamed Diame, Christian Atsu |
They haven’t lost consecutive games to newly-promoted teams for almost eight years, with the last example coming way back in December 2017, when a 3-2 home defeat to Newcastle followed up a 3-0 hammering by Brighton.
However, given the current gulf in class between the Premier League and the Championship, it would be far more embarrassing this time around if the East Londoners did suffer the same fate.
A loss at Leeds would provide another stark reminder of the grave situation that West Ham find themselves in, as well as handing a likely rival a crucial three points.
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