Whilst the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal do battle in the Europa League, dreaming of a return to the Champions League, there are clubs like Leicester City, West Ham United and Crystal Palace that will back their chance of making it into Europe’s second-tier competition, and there’s no reason why they can’t.
West Ham especially have got a cracking chance. The Irons have got a Premier League-winning manager in the form of Manuel Pellegrini and some incredibly talented players both young old, such as Andriy Yarmolenko and Declan Rice. However, we’re going to be looking at the biggest threat to the Irons bid for European football.
That, as far as we’re concerned, is nothing to do with the Hammers inconsistencies, although we’re not claiming their inability to put in their best display every week is a good thing, but instead the biggest issue for this squad to overcome is the injury issues that seem to be plagued with.
Last season the Irons had to do without the likes of Jack Wilshere, Manuel Lanzinim Carlos Sanchez, Winston Reid, Andriy Yarmolenko, Andy Carroll and Fabian Balbuena for lengthy periods, some of those missing the majority of the season.
This season, things have hardly been much better either. Whilst Pellegrini is dealing with fewer injuries, he’s dealing with blows to some of his most important players. One of those is obviously Lukasz Fabianski, and the Polish shot-stopper could be severely missed.
Football.London recently produced an article giving the latest on the Irons injury front, with Fabianski, Robert Snodgrass, Michail Antonio and Declan Rice, even though the young England man’s fears were only minor, all being addressed.
We’re also keen to point out that it will take more than staying fit for the Irons to get into Europe. This West Ham side will have to be very good to make the top six or seven in the league, but should they do so and keep their top performing players on the pitch then there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have a sniff of European football, something they’ve failed to capitalise on in recent seasons.
