Chris Sutton believes it will be “interesting” to see if West Ham United can finish higher than ninth place in the Premier League this season.
The Hammers have had a poor start to the 2024/25 season and find themselves in fourteenth place.
While many reasons can be used as blame, Sutton has singled out Julen Lopetegui after he was given a fortune to spend in the transfer window
Speaking on the Football Daily Podcast (16 September) Sutton said that he isn’t “really surprised” with what’s going off at the London Stadium.
“Lopetegui has come in and he’s a pragmatist isn’t he, that’s the style of manager which he is and I’m not really surprised with what’s gone on at West Ham,” he said.
“They’ve spent a fortune and it will be interesting to see if they can finish higher than ninth”.
Julen Lopetegui to make West Ham United changes already
Since he arrived at the London Stadium, Lopetegui has fielded nearly the exact same team for each game that has been played.
Indeed, there have been times when the likes of Jean Clair-Todibo and Vladimir Coufal have started over Konstantinos Mavropanos and Aaron Wan-Bissaka but the Spaniard seems to be very stuck in his ways.
Of course, those who have come in deserve time to be gelled into the squad and need to be given some to get used to the tactical style but, since the transfer window has been closed for over two weeks now, players should be ready to go.
The Hammers’ next game is in the Premier League against Chelsea on 21 September and it will certainly be intriguing to see how West Ham line up.
Chelsea have been handed a fitness boost with a quartet returning to training [The Standard, 16 September] so the Hammers will likely have to be on top form to get a result out of the clash.
