There are inevitably winners and losers as a result of relegation from the Barclays Premier League, as West Ham supporters know only too well! So the 'vultures' will be circling those clubs already relegated and those who are close to the drop zone, out of Fulham and Huddersfield, the two teams already confirmed as relegated, Fulham represent the best club to 'target' for 'bargains', not that there are any bargains available, merely a shift in price from the exorbitant to just extremely over valued.

Daniel Levy and the Tottenham hierarchy have been well pleased with themselves following the successful trial games played at their newly re-furbished stadium ahead of it's official opening, however their joy has turned to anxiety as a result of comments made by their manager Mauricio Pochettino. 'Poch' has said that the new stadium is brilliant and that it made him cry to see it, but crucially he has refused to confirm how long he will remain as manager.

West Ham United: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Obiang, Snodgrass, Lanzini, Perez, Arnautovic. Subs: Adrian, Balbuena, Masuaku, Noble, Diangana, Antonio, Hernandez.
Everton FC: Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Zouma, Digne, Gueye, Gomes, Richarlison, Sigurdsson, Bernard, Calvert-Lewin. Subs: Stekelenburg, Baines, Jagielka, Davies, Lookman, Walcott, Tosun.

It seems a long long time ago that New Zealand captain Winston Reid patrolled his defensive line with his mix of confidence and physicality, and that is because it has been a long long time!
From this To this Has taken a year!

Having spent most of the entire season juggling with injury problems that decimated his squad, Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini is in the enviable position of having top quality players available on a continuous basis. Only Andrily Yarmolenko, Winston Reid and Carlos Sanchez along with proverbial sick notes Andy Carroll and Jack Wilshere are unavailable for selection, a far cry from earlier in the season.

From a fan’s perspective, team sponsorships tend to blend in over time. However, they do affect things for fans, in that they help determine a team’s image and, of course, directly impact any kits or other ear people might invest in. Thus, every now and then it’s worthwhile to check in on your club’s sponsorship agreements, so as to get a feel for what partnerships are working, which ones may soon expire, and things of that nature.

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need - These old Rolling Stones lyrics pretty much sum up where West Ham United are in the great scheme of things, not tragic in any way but not where they were supposed to be. The issue of course is that compared to their European rivals, Barclays Premier league clubs are cash rich and therefore even relegation candidates are able to chase player targets that in the past would have been completely out of their reach.

West Ham signed Jack Wilshere last summer on a free transfer after his contract at Arsenal expired, he was offered a three year deal much to the chargrin of co-owner David Sullivan who argued, given Wilshere's injury record, that a 'rolling' one year contract would be preferable. Unfortunately Manuel Pellegrini stood firm and insisted on giving Wilshere the deal that he wanted, apparently Jack's agent would not sanction his client signing a deal for anything less than three years.

International breaks are always a stressful time for 'media influencers' and journalists as they struggle to generate copy for their viewers, the lack of much worthwhile news is an expense account breaker! So fair play to the 'click bait' reporter who 'broke' the Real Madrid interested in Felipe Anderson story, the only problem being that Real's interest is supposedly dependent on them missing out on getting Eden Hazard from Chelsea.

Be careful what you wish for....Having stumped up a not inconsiderable £90 Million or so to fund stage one of Manuel Pellegrini's three year plan to take West Ham to that legendary next level, the Hammers hierarchy find themselves in an unusual but not unpleasant situation depending on your take of the status quo.