The season is not over yet, but only a win against Leicester City on Saturday afternoon will keep our ever-fading hopes of the Europa League alive for another week.
Defeat, on the other hand, could see us drop down as far as 14th place, but for that to happen, Burnley would have to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge considerably and Crystal Palace would need to take three points from Arsenal.
The fact that we could still finish in the bottom half of the table, though, has fans on the KUMB forum sharing their honest assessments of Manuel Pellegrini’s inaugural campaign at the helm, and what may be different next year.
Under Pellegrini, we have also only managed to beat Fulham and Newcastle home and away, but can look to add to that by beating Southampton on the penultimate weekend of the season.
But on the other side of the fence, we have lost at the London Stadium and on the road to Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Bournemouth, while Watford and Tottenham Hotspur have the chance to add to that record – potentially making it a quarter of the league.
With limited funds expected to be on offer in the summer before player sales, it could be another difficult campaign in 2019/20…
“If we make [the] top half this season, it might be by scraping in, due to our result against cup finalists Watford.
“I think I was expecting something a little better, last summer, but, by the same token, I wasn’t aware that there would be such disruption within the squad.” – Prophet:Marginal (April 19, 08:50)
“Top half next season should be our club motto, quite simply it’s always next season. This season has been a typical West Ham season, at times we’ve been brilliant to watch, at other times woeful, gaining surprise victories against so-called bigger clubs, and a few days later, to nobody’s surprise losing to without a doubt smaller ones. When the history of this great club gets written, which won’t be for a while since it only began around 3 years ago, it will show us as a mid-table top-flight club give or take a place or two, with the occasional foray in to division 2 and the once in a very blue moon trip to the top half a dozen places.” – The Pink Palermo (April 19, 09:22)
“The worrying thing is [that] at the start of this season seventh was a realistic possibility. However, if we don’t invest big again in the summer, can anyone have much confidence [that] we will come above Wolves, Leicester or Everton [next year], who will all spend big again.” – Bubbles500 (April 19, 09:35)
“I’m honestly not bothered about finishing in any particular Premiership position. I don’t really fancy additional trips over there for UEFA games – was different at The Boleyn because that was an actual enjoyable day out. – e17 (April 19, 10:01)
“There isn’t much wrong with our performances and results against the bottom 8, nor the top 6 (allowing for the fact we’ve been cheated out of 6 points since the start of February by officials). It remains the mid-table rump that are the problem, and most specifically when we play at home (we’ve managed some good results away). Some of that has come down to lightweight selections by Pellegrini; some of it to attitude. Away at Wolves and home to Everton particularly stand out.” – Bubbles1966 (April 19, 10:05)
“I’m afraid Sully tends to back the manager in year one, much less year 2 and nowt in year 3, so the rumoured £25m plus sales is believable. Unless corporate ticket sales collapse, which I suspect they are, in which case it will be less. The cavalry aren’t coming.” – The Pin Palermo (April 19, 10:06)
“I still pray for a year, just once where we go a whole season where at least 20% are injury free, he says facetiously. If we had an average injury list, I reckon we’d be at least 10 points better off this season. – Colours never run (April 19, 10:17)
“We never had a better chance than this year and we messed it up. Next season, either the draw itself will conspire against us, or something else will to ensure we have yet another trophy-less year. Most probably another summer of underinvestment again in the transfer market, player unrest, or a lengthy injury list. I await the clambering for a tie with Millwall again” – Puff Daddy (April 19, 10:21)