Credit: Imago

Richie Mills

Sun 26 April 2026 10:10, UK

West Ham United are rivalling the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal when it comes to points accumulated in the past few months.

After a dour 2-1 loss to Nottingham Forest on 6 January, West Ham had just 14 points from 21 matches and looked down and out.

Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side were seven points behind 17th-placed Forest, eight points back from Leeds United, and 13 points adrift of Tottenham.

Now, they are two points clear of the relegation zone, with Tottenham languishing in 18th, are within three of Forest and four back from Leeds with four games to go.

Following West Ham’s 2-1 win over Everton on Saturday, the Hammers’ turnaround from no-hopers to believers is something to behold.

Nuno Espirito Santo deserves credit despite detractors

The naysayers were out in force on Monday when West Ham limped to a dour draw at Crystal Palace, who had a much shorter turnaround after their Conference League exploits.

At times, some of the football West Ham have played under Nuno can be quite uninspiring, but right now, the Hammers have a huge amount of fighting spirit, and their results are impressive.

Indeed, since their loss against Forest, West Ham have turned their season around.

And according to former England international Steph Houghton, Nuno is just keeping things straightforward for West Ham in their bid to stay up.

She said on BBC Match of the Day: “The resilience, they’re wanting to win, I think you’ve seen a real turn in West Ham. For me, the game plan is simple, and players are really applying themselves.

“Summerville has been really productive, Jarrod Bowen, and when it has mattered, the players have really stood up. From a defensive point of view, they do get you the points, and West Ham are in really, really good form at this moment in time.”

And as this graphic shows, only Man City, Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Bournemouth have secured more points than West Ham since 17 January.

On that day, West Ham scored a stoppage-time winner at Tottenham through Callum Wilson, the 34-year-old who nearly had his contract terminated in January.

But that never happened, and he popped up off the bench to score the winner against Everton, repaying the faith shown in him yet again with a huge goal.

West Ham relishing relegation fight

Up until Saturday’s results, it seemed several teams were thriving in adversity, while one was like a rabbit in the headlights.

Martin Keown praised West Ham’s fighting spirit against Everton, highlighting how they were all doing their utmost for one another. And before the Wolves game, that didn’t seem like the case at Tottenham as they went on a 15-game winless run.

That ended with a nervy 1-0 win at Molineux, but West Ham still look more likely to stay up off the back of their form. That Tottenham win could be the spark to ignite their survival, but the Hammers would rather be in their position than Spurs’ one with four games to go.

According to Opta, West Ham have a 40 per cent chance of going down, while Tottenham are just shy of 59 per cent as both sides try to avoid the fate of already-relegated Wolves and Burnley.

Against Everton, West Ham had a lower Expected Goals tally (1.17 vs 1.41), 10 shots to 11, 23 touches in the opposition’s box to 28, and 44 per cent possession.

And despite all that, they won. That epitomises their fighting spirit.