Following the disastrous 4-0 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park, West Ham United wouldn’t have been looking forward to successive Premier League matches against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal, especially as they already found themselves in the relegation zone.
David Moyes’ men had only taken one point from a possible nine as they headed to face runaway leaders City at the Etihad Stadium at the start of December, and the Scot would already have been thinking about making reinforcements in January with the east London outfit conceding 30 times in their 14 top flight games.
However, a team that had shown little quality or fight during the campaign to date finally realised the predicament they were in and they began to battle at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola’s men were the overwhelming favourites to see off the Irons having won 13 of their 14 league matches scoring 44 goals in the process, yet the visitors incredibly led at half-time through Angelo Ogbonna’s header in what was an admirable collective defensive display by the team.
However, while they are clearly fitter since Moyes replaced Bilic, defending resolutely and chasing the ball against quality opposition is difficult, and West Ham weren’t able to hang on their lead – or even for a point – as Nicolas Otamendi and David Silva both found the net in the second half.
Next up for the Hammers was a clash against Chelsea at the London Stadium, with Antonio Conte’s men coming into the game unbeaten in 12 matches in all competitions.
The fact that they played Atletico Madrid in the Champions League during the week turned out to be a blessing in disguise for West Ham as the Blues looked decidedly tired, but that shouldn’t take anything away from an impressive showing from the hosts.
They were motivated, determined, organised and took their chance through Marko Arnautovic when it came in the early stages. While it may not have been pretty to the London Stadium faithful, sometimes that is what you have to do to pick up positive results and wins against teams in the top six.
While some supporters will – and should be – buoyed by the result, Crystal Palace’s win against Watford on Tuesday night would have brought them back down to earth, and shows just how tight things are down the bottom of the table.
They moved from the bottom of the standings up to 17th thanks to their late turnaround against the Hornets, leaving West Ham in 19th position ahead of their home match against Arsenal on Wednesday.
Moyes will be telling his players that they can’t afford to get carried away after the Chelsea win, and the Scot – and the Hammers board – also shouldn’t feel that the need to strengthen his squad is any less important despite the impressive performances against the Premier League holders and the current Premier League leaders in the last couple of weeks.
West Ham do need new players during the January transfer window if they not only want to push away from the relegation zone, but also make progress in the future.
Moyes should certainly be looking at strengthening the spine of his team in the New Year with a new centre-back and defensive/central midfielder, while he potentially also needs cover at right-back, a winger and a striker if Diafra Sakho leaves.
The east London outfit should be looking for players that are not only up for a battle and the survival fight that they find themselves in, but also individuals that have the potential to help them push on next season should they stay up.
You get the feeling that David Gold and David Sullivan would prefer to not make a big outlay on transfers in January if possible, and the worry is that a positive result against Arsenal could provide vindication for them that the squad is strong enough for the rest of the season.
Their struggles last season and this prove that isn’t the case, and you can’t afford to stand still like that in a competitive division like the Premier League is.
Moyes must assert his authority in the next couple of weeks and tell the board that making changes to the squad in January is imperative, and that their top flight status could depend on it.