Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness believes West Ham are still in the “argument” to finish in the top four this season.
The Hammers have slipped out of the Champions League places following their defeat to the Gunners on Wednesday, with Arsenal now four points above them after their win over Leeds at the weekend.
Souness believes the Gunners are favourites for fourth, although he doesn’t discount Manchester United, Tottenham or David Moyes’ side:
“I’m sat between Man Utd, Arsenal, Spurs, maybe West Ham will think they’d be in that argument as well. Fourth is within their reach [for Arsenal] but we’re only halfway through the season. They have to improve on their away form, that’s not good enough. We’ve seen when they went to Liverpool a couple of weeks ago that the level that Liverpool play at and where [Arsenal] are right now is considerably different. Yeah they have a chance of being fourth but Spurs will be in that argument, Man U will be in that argument, and West Ham I think can cause problems to anyone they play.”
It looks like it will be a right old scrap for the final Champions League place this campaign. While Arsenal are certainly in pole position currently after recent results, their inconsistency could well be their undoing.
When it comes to West Ham, they will know that getting back to their early season form will be absolutely vital for their top-four hopes. Moyes has spoken out about the drop in standards recently and things will need to change quickly in order for his team to get back in the hunt.
