3 Solutions to West Ham’s Struggles

For many fans, football is just more than a game. They follow all the games, support the team, and share the ups and downs year in, year out. That being said, it’s particularly annoying, and sometimes even stressful when your team is in a downward spiral, with relegation even looming over the edge. It can lead to a lot of frustration, and for teams like West Ham, it’s really reached the threshold level. With another 3-0 loss at Arsenal, the Hammers are as far as can be from the promising Europa League start they had at the start of the season.

It’s been downhill on all fronts for a club that many pundits thought to have no place to go but upwards. First came the embarrassing exit out of the Europa League to Astra, and a poor start fueled by crowd violence at London Stadium. In January came the exit of star man Dimitri Payet to Marseille, a fan favorite that was thought to lead West Ham to unparalleled success. As a West Ham fan, it’s sad to see a club with so much promise at the end of last season just five points above relegation. At this point last season, Alexandre Lacazette was linked with a move to the club- this year, the team’s top transfer target January was Brentford’s Scott Hogan. What has led to such a bad downhill spiral for West Ham?

Here’s How Chelsea Could Blow the Title

Just a week ago, Chelsea seemed poised to lift the EPL trophy at the end of the season undeterred, as they carried a 10 point lead over second place Spurs with just 10 games left to play. However, Chelsea lost at home to lowly Crystal Palace, and Spurs grinded out a road win at Burnley, and this has turned the season into somewhat of a title race. If Chelsea lose tomorrow against Manchester City, who haven’t lost in 8 league games, their lead could be cut down to four points. Here are the updated odds to win the title, with Chelsea still being overwhelming favorites:

Taken from Sports Club Stats.

However, Spurs chances have shot up significantly. So, I am now going to present a scenario in which Chelsea ends up finishing in second, with Spurs claiming the title.

5 Takeaways from the EPL Weekend

1. Moussa Sissoko is a complete flop

High hopes surrounded Moussa Sissoko following an impressive showing with France at the 2016 European Championships. He impressed so much that Tottenham Hotspur were inspired to pay €30 million to sign him on a 5-year deal. Oh, what they would do to change that.

Sissoko has made 18 appearances for Spurs this EPL season, almost all of them coming from the bench. In those games, he has managed 0 goals. He has taken 14 shots, and only 1 of them has been on target. His crossing accuracy is 7%, and he hasn’t created a single chance all season. And for a man of his size, maybe the most disappointing statistic is that he has won just 37% of his aerial duels.

FIFA Out to get Messi?

Recently Messi has been in the headlines over some controversie that happened over the international break. Clearly frustrated with the game, he got into a bit of an argument and had some choice words with the referee. And guess what that little outburst resulted in . . . a ban 4 matches.

Now whats wrong with that? Refs should be shown respect right? Yes that is 100% true, however, a 4 game match ban seems very harsh. Did FIFA truly believe they were making the correct call? Or is it because FIFA might be after him. Now this is not a full blown conspiracy theory – there could very well be a lot of truth to this. Now what could they have against Messi, arguably the best player in the world?

Should Spurs Opt out of Wembley?

With Tottenham’s new 61,000 seat, $800 million dollar stadium on the way, the club is headed for a big and bright future, in more ways than one. The new stadium will lead to more revenue, and a potential deal to allow the NFL (American football) to host a couple games there is in the works. And while the economic side is looking good, so is the actual football. Spurs have one of the youngest starting lineups in the Premier League, and yet sit in 2nd place in the league. All of this is creating a lot of buzz around the club, and that was just fueled even more when the club recently found out they could play next season’s home fixtures at Wembley’s 90,000 seat-capacity stadium. And yet, Spurs remain indecisive about whether or not to play there. So, why is this?

The Story of West Brom

West Bromwich Albion. How well have they really done this season?

When you think of West Brom you think of, one of “those mid table teams” that everyone seems to forget halfway through the season. Especially because for the longest time now they’ve finished anywhere between 16th and 12th place in the league, establishing themselves as a boring mid table side under Tony Pulis. Even now, the Baggies continue to be one of the more underrated sides in the EPL, despite their consistent presence in the top half of the table of the season. So, how did West Brom flip the script this year?

The Dirtiness of Ireland-Wales

Today, Ireland squared off against Wales in the FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifier. And while the game itself was a 0-0 draw, the headlines were really written by the harsh challenges laid throughout the game. Both sides had more than a few dirty challenges that ended up in some disciplinary action, and unfortunately, injury as well.

The Pogba Crisis (Part 2)

 

As a United fan, hearing the news of Pogba coming got me really excited. What fan wouldn’t be? Your club just went out and made the most expensive purchase ever, and bought a young talent that was already impressing at the top level. From that point on, everyone thought that this would be a favorite to win the title and be one of the most impressive teams in recent memory. Wrong. 

UCL REVIEW: AS Monaco-Manchester City

The first leg of the UCL Round of 16 tie between AS Monaco and Manchester City was a thrilling one, finishing 5-3 in favor of the Citizens. And while City carried a two goal lead, Monaco could definitely take positives from the match, such as their surely insurmountable advantage in away goals. Monaco had to feel like they were going to be able to put at least two goals past City’s questionable defense in the second leg, especially considering they had scored the second most goals in all of Europe this season, trailing only Barcelona.

What’s Next for Lukaku?

This morning, breaking news dropped, as Everton star Romelu Lukaku rejected a new contract and told the club that he intends to move on this summer. This came as a surprise, considering his agent Mino Raiola had just stated that Lukaku was set to sign an extension that would’ve made him the highest paid player in Everton’s history. With Everton sitting in 7th in the Premier League, and 8 points off the top four, the striker stated the desire to play in the Champions League as the main reason he wanted an exit. And given that Lukaku has scored 19 goals and provided 5 assists in just 27 matches this season, there should be no shortage of quality teams that pursue the Belgian. In this article, I’m going to take a look at four clubs that could sign Lukaku this summer if he does indeed leave.