West Ham head into tomorrow night knowing victory against Wolves will lift them out of the bottom three.
But the bigger picture won’t become clear until Monday night, when Leeds United travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United — a game that will truly add context to the weekend’s results.
Four teams fighting for one outcome
Right now, it’s as simple as four into one. West Ham, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham are locked in a battle to avoid the dreaded final Premier League relegation spot.
That makes this round of fixtures both fascinating and, from a West Ham perspective, terrifying viewing.
Spurs narrative faces a real test
Much has been made of Roberto De Zerbi’s appointment at Tottenham, but they face a tricky trip to Sunderland on Sunday.
As expected after this kind of appointment, the Spurs propaganda machine has gone into overdrive. Footage of De Zerbi’s innovative training drills has started doing the rounds, and the wider narrative suggests he’ll pull Spurs clear. But if they go behind at the Stadium of Light, the nerves will kick in — just like they would for anyone in this situation.
Lose, and it suddenly looks a long way back for the North London side on their third manager of the season.
Club Fixture 1 Fixture 2 Fixture 3 Fixture 4 Fixture 5 Fixture 6 Fixture 7 West Ham United West Ham vs Wolves Crystal Palace vs West Ham West Ham vs Everton Brentford vs West Ham West Ham vs Arsenal Newcastle vs West Ham West Ham vs Leeds Leeds United Man United vs Leeds Leeds vs Wolves Bournemouth vs Leeds Leeds vs Burnley Tottenham vs Leeds Leeds vs Brighton West Ham vs Leeds Tottenham Hotspur Sunderland vs Tottenham Tottenham vs Brighton Wolves vs Tottenham Aston Villa vs Tottenham Tottenham vs Leeds Chelsea vs Tottenham Tottenham vs Everton Nottingham Forest Forest vs Aston Villa Forest vs Burnley Sunderland vs Forest Chelsea vs Forest Forest vs Newcastle Man United vs Forest Forest vs Bournemouth
Forest look best placed — for now
Nottingham Forest, from my perspective, look the most likely to get out of trouble. They have a tough game against Aston Villa this weekend but follow it with Burnley next week.
That said, they’re also in Europa League action against Porto, and you’d expect them to go strong in the first leg of that quarter-final.
From fascinating to frightening
If I were a neutral, this relegation scrap would be fascinating.
As a West Ham fan, it’s something else entirely.