With just a few days until the start of the 2022/23 season, football fans across England will gear up for another season of dedication, anticipation, and emotion. Fans will be eager to get underway and find out how exactly this campaign may unfold for their team.
For West Ham United fans there is more European football to look forward to, as well as some exciting signings. But what sort of season are the Hammers in for?
The 2021/22 season
Last season, West Ham went on a memorable European tour, which concluded with a massive Europa League semi-final against German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt. While Frankfurt had the edge over two legs, West Ham fans will hope they can replicate a similar run this season in the Europa Conference League.
However, with the demands of Europe, their league form dropped off slightly, though they still finished as ‘best of the rest’ in seventh place.
Outgoings
For a team like West Ham, the prospect of a summer transfer window can be quite daunting when you have highly sought-after assets in Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen on your books.
With Declan Rice constantly linked with a move away and murmurs of Bowen making a move across London to Arsenal, West Ham fans will be relieved to see the window slam shut on Thursday September 1.
At the time of writing, it does not look at all likely that West Ham will lose either of their prized assets and are set to hang on to them for another window. This will come as a massive boost as the Hammers continue to build on last year’s success.
This season will be the first since the 2004/2005 season that the Hammers will be without club legend Mark Noble, who brought the curtain down on an iconic tenure at West Ham at the end of the previous campaign.
His experience and his leadership will be missed in the changing room. However, there is no doubt that West Ham have a perfect captain replacement in Declan Rice. The England midfielder will have learned a lot from Noble and will now step up as club captain, alongside a leadership team containing the likes of Aaron Cresswell and Angelo Ogbonna.
West Ham have also bid farewell to Andriy Yarmolenko. The Ukrainian ends a disappointing West Ham career only netting seven goals and setting up three in 63 Premier League games. They also let go of right-back Ryan Fredericks. Both have left on free transfers to Al-Ain FC and AFC Bournemouth respectively.
The club also decided not to sign Alexander Kral on a permanent deal after a hugely disappointing loan spell, so his temporary stay has come to an end.
New faces
West Ham’s transfer business has been a bit hit-and-miss in recent seasons, but with a few hits in Craig Dawson, Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen, there are signs their recruitment is improving. Hammers’ fans have plenty to be excited about with their summer recruits this season.
Their marquee signing of the summer is Italian striker, Gianluca Scamacca. The 6ft 5in forward signed from Italy will hopefully bring an end to West Ham’s woes up front in previous years. With big signings like Sebastian Haller not working out, David Moyes will be desperately hoping that this one sticks - and it seems it should.
The stats suggest that West Ham could have a real player on their hands, and if they can get Scamacca up to speed quickly he could be pivotal to their season.
The other big money signing was Nayef Aguerd from Stade Rennais. West Ham signed the Moroccan centre-back in a £31.5m deal.
Unfortunately, David Moyes will be without Aguerd for the start of the season after he picked up an ankle injury in pre-season. However, when he returns, the side’s centre-back options will be bolstered massively.
The club also opted to re-sign Alphonse Areola from Paris Saint-Germain after an impressive loan spell, in a deal amassing just over £8m.
The other notable signing was Flynn Downes who signed from Championship side Swansea City. The Welsh midfielder joined for just under £10m.
Strongest starting line-up?
With everyone fit, David Moyes has plenty of options and depth. West Ham’s strongest side could look something like this.
(4-2-3-1)
GK: Lukasz Fabianski
DEF: Vladimir Coufal, Craig Dawson, Kurt Zouma, Aaron Cresswell
MID: Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek
ATT: Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals, Said Benrahma, Gianluca Scamacca
Talking Points
Can West Ham cope with the demands of the Europa Conference League?
West Ham will kickstart their European campaign on Thursday August 18 when they play either Viborg or B36 Torshavn in the play-off round of the Europa Conference League.
They will hope their campaign is a long one concluding in Prague, Czech Republic where this season’s final is set to take place. They will need a fit squad to cope with the number of games and to keep fighting on all fronts.
Will the arrival of Gianluca Scamacca spell the end for Michail Antonio?
The arrival of Scamacca is an exciting one, although perhaps not if you are 32-year-old Michail Antonio, who will now have a battle on his hands to keep hold of the striker spot.
Will it be a rotation with European and domestic games? Scamacca or Antonio? It is not a bad decision to have to make.
Can West Ham keep putting pressure on the ‘Big Six’?
It is very difficult to keep up with the financial spending power of the ‘big six’ clubs, but West Ham has proven that they can compete with the top sides.
With the ‘big six’ recruiting well, the task has become a little more difficult. At the moment, Manchester United look like the only team that might slip out of the top six.
Predicted Finish
West Ham will have to juggle their European endeavours with domestic competitions, which might sell them short on getting a place in the top six. Their goal this season will be to cement themselves as best of the rest.
Their main rival to that accolade is probably Leicester City, who are yet to add any new additions to their squad. Outside of Leicester the likes of Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers will be looking to push for that 7th place finish, but I think West Ham will just hang on to it.
Predicted finish - 7th