Last week’s demolition at the hands of Brighton’s U23 will be fresh in the minds of the young Hammers players as they look to improve on their torrid form in the Premier League 2. West Ham travel to the north west to face Blackburn Rovers on Friday evening, with the intention of lifting themselves off the bottom of the table as we head into the tail-end of the season.
Relegation Candidates
The Hammers currently sit four points adrift at the wrong end of the table on eight points; Southampton occupy the penultimate position, having notched 12 points so far. Dmitri Halajko’s Irons will see this game week as an opportunity to make up ground, as relegation rivals Southampton travel to face an in-form Derby County side.
Also in the relegation mix are Leicester City, who sit a comfortable seven points ahead of West Ham, but with three games in hand on the east London side.
Adaptation Struggles
Following the success of last season, it was always going to be difficult for the Irons to reproduce the levels of football in a much tougher league. If anything, this season has been a steep learning curve for the young squad.
However, it certainly is not too late for the Hammers to turn their season around, with 11 fixtures still to be contested. Dmitri Halakjo will be looking for the side to ‘click’, much in the way that they did in their 2019/20 campaign, with fast-paced devastating football showing its worth in Division 2.
While attempting to play this style of football, the defensive frailties of the West Ham squad have been exposed, as they’ve stepped up a level in terms of competition. But with the quality of players that currently occupy the young Irons squad, there is very little doubt that they have the capability to exceed expectations at this level.
Time for Results
With the end of the season just starting to come over the horizon, Halajko and his squad will be looking to drastically improve their form to prove that the Hammers aren’t just there to make up the numbers, and there is no better place to start than on a testing Friday evening in the north west of England.
