West Ham continue to struggle

With just one win in five matches, West Ham quickly need to turn their season around.

After a very promising transfer window in terms of offensive signings, West Ham has had a very poor start to their Premier League campaign. An opening day loss to Chelsea due to Diego Costa’s 89th minute winner saw them start the season on the wrong foot. With just one win, coming against Bournemouth, West Ham have just three points in five matches.

The club had high hopes for their players this season, with Dimitri Payet poised to have another fantastic season. West Ham, however, can not seem to find their form from the previous season.

The scoring for the Hammers has been primarily handled by Michail Antonio. He leads the club with five goals, scoring goals in the last four matches. His end of season form seems to have carried over from last year, much to the delight of the West Ham fans.

It is the defense that the Hammers have been struggling with this year. They have allowed the second most goal, only one behind Stoke City who have allowed 14 so far. Their leaky back line has had just one clean sheet thus far, coming against a 10-man Bournemouth side when they won 1-0. They also saw a 2-0 lead slip away, disastrously losing 4-2 to Watford after four unanswered goals were scored.

Their struggles in Europe certainly did not help their confidence. After a 1-1 draw with Romanian side FC Astra Giurgiu, West Ham again failed to shut down the opposition. They allowed a goal and ultimately lost the match 1-0. This 2-1 aggregate loss knocked them out of the Europa League playoff round, ruining all their hard work from the previous season of getting into the competition.

West Ham know they need to turn around their season. They are pushing to get Álvaro Arbeloa into the starting eleven to sure up their back line. Injured players Aaron Cresswell and Andre Ayew hope to recover quickly to further help their side get back into the top half of the table. Their next Premier League match comes against Southampton, who currently sit in 14th place.