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2 hours ago
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There is a certain irony to West Ham relying, once again, on David Moyes to help them avoid relegation. Unless the Scot can mastermind a win against Tottenham on Sunday, West Ham are down. Even a draw would leave them needing to beat Leeds United by 12 goals – a record margin that would go against all the evidence they have presented this season.
Moyes saved West Ham from relegation twice – and delivered a first major trophy in 43 years – but it did not stop them dispensing with him, for a second time, in May 2024.
In one sense, you could say West Ham can feel hard done by. Should relegation be confirmed, they will go down with the highest points total in a decade. Newcastle were relegated with 37 points in 2016, and West Ham already have 36.
In another, they have only themselves to blame. They have been in steady decline since deciding Moyes’s football wasn’t exciting enough and setting out to find a manager who could deliver results in the expansive style everyone craved.
Moyes was always the stabiliser. West Ham first turned to him in November 2017, when they were in the bottom three, and he steered them to 13th. They then declined to extend his six-month deal, preferring the Premier League winner Manuel Pellegrini. They finished 10th under the Chilean but when his second season unravelled, West Ham decided perhaps Moyes wasn’t so bad after all. They were 18th when he swallowed his pride and returned, and he kept them up again.
Sixth- and seventh-placed finishes followed, then the Europa Conference League trophy, in one of the most successful periods in the club’s modern history. And then Moyes started to get a bit boring. They had stability, but it was all too beige: too built on solid defences and organised midfields.
Julen Lopetegui lasted six months; Graham Potter eight – the latter sacked five games into the season after winning three points. Moyes was probably the ideal manager, but going back cap-in-hand once is one thing, twice was too embarrassing for all involved.
So in came Nuno Espírito Santo, who sparked a fleeting recovery in November, only for a winless run from 22 November to mid-January to leave them seven points adrift of safety. Yet Nuno dug in – in a very Moyes-like manner – and briefly lifted them out of the relegation zone with six victories, including against Moyes’s Everton, and four draws before the end of April. But form collapsed, and three successive defeats, coinciding with Tottenham’s resurgence under Robert De Zerbi, leave them on the brink.
Nuno has not changed anything this week – no impromptu meals or team-building exercises to distract from the impending doom. “The same approach, the same routine, the same dedication,” he said.
Sunday will follow the usual matchday pattern. A team meeting to run through the lineup and tactics just before the pre-match meal. Arrive at the stadium, where the players will have time to prepare themselves. Starters will be given extra details and videos of their opponents.
If there are any surprises in Daniel Farke’s lineup, Nuno and his staff will discuss tweaks. Then, Nuno explains, it is out for the “warm up before the game, a big hug, team spirit, look at ourselves in the eyes and play the game”.
Unless the London Stadium wifi is turned off and 5G signal blocked, fans in the ground will be as glued to social media and live score apps for updates from Spurs v Everton as they are the action in front of them. Wild, out-of-place celebrations or an uneasy atmosphere will be hard to ignore, though Nuno has told his players: “There’s no other thing you can impact, only yours, so what do you have to focus on? Your game.”
None of it is helped by the news that Jarrod Bowen – emblematic of West Ham’s rise under Moyes – has not earned a place in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad, despite several call-ups. Nuno spoke to Bowen on Friday, telling the forward: “Life is like that, that some decisions you just have to respect.”
Nuno said: “Jarrod doesn’t have to prove anything. He just has to be himself, the best of him and the best of all the players. That’s what we need on Sunday.”
If relegation comes, Bowen will be one of several key players likely to leave. Nuno, who signed a three-year contract in September, refused to be drawn on whether he will stay. “Our future is Sunday,” he said. “After that we will assess everything that we have to assess.”
