Guest Post by DC
Much has been made recently of West Ham’s chances of securing Champions League football next season, or worst case scenario (by the sounds of it) a lowly Europa League spot. Apparently, Arsenal are all over the place. Spurs and Liverpool too! A recent suggestion was that only Chelsea and Man City have better teams than us. The natural progression from this is that we must therefore be on par with both Man Utd and Southampton. Goes without saying.
It’s easy to look at the Top Teams on MOTD and watch how vulnerable they look on a given day of the season, more often than not after a midweek flight back from Europe. It’s also easy to forget that these teams have already played around 10 games more than the Mighty Hammers at this half-way point of the season.
So what exactly does a team realistically contending for a Champions League spot look like? ….. tell you what , lets stretch it out to the Top 6 just to be on the safe side. How many points do the Hammers actually need to make the grade? Take a look at the last 5 seasons of Premier League Football (190 games) and it makes for pretty daunting reading when you look at the average points tally.
1st 86 pts | 2nd 81 pts | 3rd 75 pts | 4th 72 pts | 5th 68 pts | 6th 64 pts
What about the so-called “Big Six”? How did their points average out over the same period?
Man U = 81 pts | Man C = 78 pts | Chelsea = 76 pts | Arsenal = 73 pts | Spurs = 68 pts | Liverpool = 64 pts
Now, I’m no Data Analyst Expert, but I do detect a slight pattern emerging here. YAWN! Why is the truth so boring?
I’m all for positive mental attitude. It seems vital that our lads really believe they can turn the big boys over. It seems vital that our Board aspire to be in and amongst these teams at the end of each season. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it should be a non-negotiable that Gold and Sullivan aspire to have the best team in the land – surely that’s the only way we will ever end up being the best team in the land!
Yet, there is a ‘not so subtle’ difference between aspiration and false expectations. Recent history suggests that the so called “Big Six” – with particular reference to Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool – are maybe not about to roll-over quite as easily as some might think they are. It’s tough at the top!