{"id":13395,"date":"2026-05-09T20:05:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13395"},"modified":"2026-05-10T20:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T19:17:25","slug":"win-wash-and-repeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13395","title":{"rendered":"Win, Wash and Repeat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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And so to the London Stadium for Sunday\u2019s late-afternoon Premier League game against West Ham United. It was scheduled for the day before, but that didn\u2019t suit Sky Sports, so Sunday it is. Were you asked whether that was convenient? Me, neither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The London Stadium, n\u00e9e the 2012 Olympic Stadium, strikes me as a soulless venue. It certainly will feel that way after the extraordinary atmosphere at the Ems on Tuesday evening. But with just three games to go, the team will have to shut out the lack of noise and focus on bringing a successful conclusion to the season three points closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The venue\u2019s saving grace, if it has one, is that it is not West Ham\u2019s old digs, the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park, a particularly nasty place to go back in the day. Younger \u2018holics might care to Google \u2018Inter City Firm\u2019, but not if they are of a sensitive disposition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, I read some remarks by Alex Fynn, a football business consultant, who argued that, for financial reasons, clubs want to replace \u2018legacy fans\u2019 with \u2018global football tourists\u2019. While most of us in this fine establishment would consider ourselves the former rather than the latter, I doubt any of us regret the end of the ugly and violent era of English football hooliganism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lea Valley Sinkhole<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems increasingly likely that one end or the other of the Lower Lea Valley will host Championship football next season. At the time of writing, six teams could still be relegated alongside Burnley and Wolves, though that number could fall to four by the time our game kicks off. Either way, the clubs based in N17 and E20 are the two most likely candidates to go down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A victory for us on Sunday would heavily tilt the odds of avoiding the drop in favour of the inhabitants of the Middlesex Marshes. So be it. Our eyes are on bigger prizes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santos<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Portuguese was the first Premier League manager to get the tin tack this season, after falling out with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis. (How did no Predictathon player foresee that?) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuno took over at West Ham in late September, after the Hammers, having won only one of their first five games, sacked Graham Potter. The long-faced, ginger-beardy one has gone on to rescue Sweden\u2019s World Cup campaign and, with an assist from our very own Big Vik, has guided them to the finals this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuno has injected tactical discipline and shape into his new charges, as he tends to do. However, consistent performance has been elusive. His squad has managed back-to-back league wins just twice and has secured only eight victories in total. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had lifted them from seven points adrift of safety to one place above the drop zone \u2014 at least until last week, when the neighbours won at Villa Park (how dire were Villa?) and the Irons were beaten 3-0 at Brentford, perhaps unluckily, as they hit the woodwork four times. Yet even then, they should probably still have lost 2-1. The big chances fell to the Bees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the relegation zone, West Ham are a point adrift of safety, but their fate is no longer in their own hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mads Hermansen took over the gloves in early February when Alphonse Areola was relegated to Cup keeper. Our former glove-butler, Lukasz Fabianski, has missed the entire season, save for one game, due to a back injury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will take a punt that, ahead of the Dane, Nuno will switch from his customary 4-4-1-1 to 3-4-2-1, as he did in the home draw against City in March. The back three would then likely comprise another of our old boys, Konstantinos Mavropanos, and the Frenchmen, Axel Disasi, who is on loan from Chelsea, and Jean-Clair Todibo, whose loan from Nice was made permanent last summer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle Walker-Peters and the young Senegalese El Hajdi Malick Diouf would be the wing-backs, dropping back to form a back five when West Ham are out of possession. Completing the midfield centrally would be the Czech Tom\u00e1s Soucek alongside the 21-year-old Portuguese international Mateus Fernandes. He joined from Southampton in the summer to replace Flamengo-bound Lucas Paquet\u00e1. Reportedly, PSG and Man U have eyes on him for a summer move. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Nuno does stick with a back four, then Todibo would likely be the one to drop to the bench, along with Walker-Peters, who would be replaced at right back by the taller and defensively stronger Aaron Wan-Bissaka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Jarrod Bowen is the team\u2019s talisman. No Englishman has more goals and assists combined this season than Bowen\u2019s 18, even though he has not scored in his last 11 appearances. He and the dangerously direct Dutchman, Crysencio Sommerville, will pose a threat down the flanks on the counterattack. Both will be on many clubs\u2019 summer shopping lists if West Ham go down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fellow winger Adama Traor\u00e9, the ex-Fulham and, believe it or not, Barcelona man, would be the fresh legs to bring on late in the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would leave one slot to fill. The Argentine, Taty Castellanos, has been playing the nine in the 4-4-1-1, with Brazilian Pablo as a 10 behind him. The pair arrived in January from Lazio and Gil Vicente (a Primeira Liga team from Barcelos in northern Portugal), respectively. Their paltry return of five goals between them, for a combined outlay of \u00a345 million, may tempt Nuno to drop them both in favour of the veteran Callum Wilson, although my hunch is that Castellanos will start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our record at the London Stadium is encouraging \u2014 W5 D3 L2 \u2014 and we have scored 19 goals in our last five visits. Yet, despite their predicament, West Ham are unbeaten in their last six home league matches (W3 D3) \u2014 their longest run without defeat on home soil since their final season at Upton Park, 2015-16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, they have also lost all five of their home London derbies this season. What better time to hit them for six?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It increasingly looks as though Mikel Merino and Jurrien Timber will be out for the rest of the season. Everyone else is available, Arteta says.<\/em> That would include Kai Havertz and Martin \u00d8degaard, one assumes. The skipper is the selection conundrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have gone back and forth on whether we will see the same XI that started against Fulham and Atletico to maintain the rediscovered rhythm, or whether Arteta will opt to manage tired bodies and keep the whole squad primed for the final dash to the wire. At the time of writing, my pendulum has swung to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapi\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rice, Lewis-Skelly, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka, \u00d8degaard, Trossard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gy\u00f6keres<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City\u2019s draw at the Hill Dickinson last Monday has put the title back in our hands. Doku\u2019s last-ditch equaliser in the ninth of the six added minutes \u2014 really? \u2014 means we likely still have to win our final three league games. Our margin for error remains zero. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, we should beat a team with the league\u2019s fifth-least potent attack and the third-leakiest defence. It is particularly vulnerable to set pieces: it ranks second in the league for goals conceded from set pieces and is top for those from corners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gentlemen of the turf suggest that a 1-0 or 2-1 away win is the most likely outcome. I would suggest that, even with West Ham scrapping for survival, we can win 3-0, provided we shake off any hangover from Tuesday\u2019s celebrations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three league games and a Champions League final to go. No time for the faint-hearted or the weak-willed. Believe, believe, believe and win, win, win \u2014 and then win one more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, \u2018holics, near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so to the London Stadium for Sunday\u2019s late-afternoon Premier League game against West Ham United. It was scheduled for the day before, but that didn\u2019t suit Sky Sports, so Sunday it is. Were you asked whether that was convenient? Me, neither. The London Stadium, n\u00e9e the 2012 Olympic Stadium, strikes me as a soulless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13395"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13413,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13395\/revisions\/13413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}