Browsing: West Ham

Mauricio Pochettino’s team have the best defensive record in the league thus far, which has seen them fail to lose a single match. But they have also struggled to win games and have drawn the most number of games in the league as well, which sees them in fifth place five points behind leaders Liverpool

The Hammers are 10 points worse off than at this stage last season but their form has picked up in recent weeks, winning three of their last four games in all competitions, although they were beaten 2-0 by Everton last weekend

Namely a run of three successive defeats for the first time in the tenure of Aitor Karanka, who took over on Teesside in November, 2013. Karanka is rather more preoccupied with yielding a renaissance in Boro’s fortunes following setbacks against Spurs, Everton and Crystal Palace and says that his side should read little into the Hammers’ travails

Allegations in the Daily Telegraph claimed that the former Sunderland, Bolton and West Ham boss had negotiated a £400,000 fee to help a foreign group get around FA rules to bring players to England

Man City have won both of their league fixtures this season in addition to two European ties, but West Ham were dumped out of the Europa League on Wednesday night and will enter this match short of confidence

Despite starting brightly, Bournemouth offered nothing in the final third and they had to rely on Artur Boruc to keep them on level terms when he remained alert to punch clear a near-post effort from Enner Valencia that seemed destined for the net

If nothing else, interim boss Guus Hiddink has at least steadied the ship since taking interim charge in December. When the Dutchman strode into Stamford Bridge for a second time, he inherited a team that was just one point above the bottom three