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#3 West Ham
West Ham finished on the same points as Leicester last season but one place behind. Compared to Wolves, they finished three places behind getting beat out by five points. This would technically make them the weakest of the three teams going into the season. However, the Hammers have had a very good transfer window highlighted by their signings of Sebastian Haller and Pablo Fornals. Fornals will be hit or miss due to the fact that he is not a big goal contributor (contributing to five goals last campaign with Villareal) and he will be 24 in January, which means there might not be too much more to develop. Luckily West Ham has a player like Michail Antonio that can occupy many positions in that front line. Haller, on the other hand, could be one of the signings of the window, similar to the Dmitri Payet deal that West Ham secured years ago. Haller is a selfless attacker that can not only score the goals but also make his teammates better, last season he scored fifteen and set up nine goals in only twenty-three starts. If he can replicate anything close to that form for West Ham, then they will be in a very good position.
Manuel Pellegrini didn’t hit the ground running last season, but his boys improved throughout the season with players such as Lukasz Fabianski, Issa Diop, Declan Rice, and Felipe Anderson standing out. Add a healthy Manuel Lanzini that can play a full season and you have an attack that can fire on all fronts. The only issues could be the fullback areas as Masuaku/Cresswell and Zabaleta/Fredericks are not on the same level as Wolves’ and Leicester’s fullbacks.
Mark Noble is also an interesting player that is still a heavy contributor for the Hammers. Noble played 31 games last season in the league with a very impressive ten goal contributions. However, he isn’t anything special on the defensive side of the game and four of his five goals were from penalty kicks. He isn’t necessarily an attacking player, so the goal tally doesn’t mean much but his ball progression isn’t anything to write home about. Add the fact that he’s 32 years old and doesn’t have the legs he used to, West Ham could have a bit of a midfield problem with the player partnering Declan Rice. If the team meshes well together and Manuel Pellegrini can set up a free-flowing attack backed up the defensive solidity of Diop, Balbuena, and Fabianski then West Ham can be a force to be reckoned with. It could be a bit of a stretch to see them jump from tenth to the top six in one season but the pieces are all there for the possibility of success.
