Back in the heady days of summer, when the season was starting afresh, and many were already awarding the title to Liverpool, few doubted that the three newly promoted clubs would be going straight back down. There were several reasons people felt this way, but the one that carried the most weight and seemed most logical was just that the Premier League was so strong.
Sunderland, who finished fourth in the Championship last term, 24 points behind Leeds and Burnley, were earmarked as candidates for an all-time low points total. As for the other promoted clubs, while they thrived in the Championship, Leicester had been almost as good 12 months earlier before mustering just 25 points in the top flight.
Obviously, one of the three would have to finish above the other two in the PL. But trying to make a logical argument that there was another side Leeds, Burnley or Sunderland could better was tricky. In 2024/25, Tottenham were 17th, Manchester United 15th, West Ham 14th, Everton 13th and Crystal Palace 12th.
All of those were predicted to do much better in 2025/26. A repeat of such bad seasons for the first two was unthinkable. Meanwhile, the Hammers were fancied to improve as Graham Potter settled, and the latter two teams ended the previous campaign very strongly. Many felt that Wolves, 16th in 2024/25, were the only side that could possibly do worse than the three PL newbies, especially as they had lost several of their best players in the summer.
Those suspicions that Wolves might struggle have proved 100% true, with the Black Country outfit taking just six points from their opening 20 games. They only got their first win of the season in their 20th league fixture. While Wolves are cut adrift at the bottom of the table, with 15 points separating them and Nottingham Forest, who are 17th, it is the side that they earned their first win against that is beginning to look almost as damned.
West Ham on Terrible Run
Defeat. pic.twitter.com/xXbkBgvzCV
— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 6, 2026
The Hammers have struggled all season, and that saw Potter sacked back in late September. They appointed Nuno Espirito Santo immediately, the Portuguese having done so well with Nottingham Forest before falling out with the club’s erratic owner. But if anything, results have got worse.
West Ham took just one point from the new boss’s first four games. However, they then seemed to have turned a corner as they managed consecutive home wins, backing that up with a draw at Bournemouth. They then lost at home to Liverpool and drew away at Man United and Brighton, creating a reasonably solid sequence of results all in all.
Things haven’t gone so well recently, however, as they have taken just one point from the last 18 available. And going back to early November, they have not won any of their last 10 PL games, taking just four points in that spell. That has left them in big trouble, and they are now 18th in the table, occupying the last relegation spot, ahead of only Wolves and Burnley. They are seven points back from Forest with a goal difference that is eight inferior, and they will need a major upturn in results if they are to preserve their Premier League status.
Hammers Lose Crucial Six-Pointer in Cruel Fashion
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If West Ham fans thought 2025 was bad, 2026 has taken things up a notch or two. Their first game of the year saw them become the first side to lose to Wolves this season. And they didn’t just lose, they went down 3-0 in a game where they didn’t manage even a single shot on target.
With Wolves almost certainly set to be relegated, that was less of a six-pointer, as humiliating and woeful as the defeat was. But they then followed that up with a home game against Forest. They went into the clash four points behind the Nottingham outfit, so a win would have put them right back in the fight.
Things started well for Nuno’s men, playing against his old side, managed by relegation dogfighter extraordinaire Sean Dyche. After 13 minutes, they were a goal to the good, and they maintained that lead into the second period, deserving to do so too.
After 51 minutes, they thought they had gone 2-0 up when Crysencio Summerville produced a fine finish. However, Valentin Castellanos was offside in the build-up and VAR chalked off their “goal”. Just four minutes later, Forest were level, Nicolas Dominguez looping in a header from a corner. The visitors were the better side in the second period, and they pressed on looking for the win. A draw may well have been a fair result, but football is rarely fair, and it is very often rather cruel.
After 89 minutes, Morgan Gibbs-White scored from the spot to give Forest all three points and pour more misery on the scant home crowd, many having stayed away in protest. VAR sent the ref to the monitor for a possible foul on Gibbs-White, and the inevitable happened. The penalty was undoubtedly soft and especially hard for West Ham to take, given the earlier incident where they had seemingly gone from 2-0 to 1-1 in a matter of minutes. These are dark times for the Hammers faithful, and they could get darker still.