Hammers Lose Out In Relegation Race

Despite West Ham United’s results improving from January onwards, it was ultimately not enough for them to avoid spending the 2026/27 season in the Sky Bet Championship. The Hammers did what they had to do as they finally managed to beat newly-promoted Leeds United 3-0 in Stratford after two previous failures this season. However, the favour they were hoping for from North London didn’t materialise, as former Irons’ boss David Moyes saw his side lose 1-0 at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Nuno Espírito Santo made three changes to the team that lost 3-1 to Newcastle United at St James’ Park a week ago, as Kyle Walker-Peters, Pablo Felipe and Valentín Castellanos all came into the starting line-up, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Callum Wilson dropped to the bench. Felipe had reportedly felt unwell in the warm-up but, the January recruit remained in the team. Several of the club’s youngsters were amongst the substitutes, including Freddie Potts, Oliver Scarles and Mohamadou Kanté and they were joined by loanee Keiber Lamadrid. Jean-Clair Todibo wasn’t involved in the matchday squad.

It took the hosts a while to find their rhythm, hence why Daniel Farke’s men were on top in the opening stages. Thankfully though, goalkeeper Mads Hermansen prevented them from making the breakthrough.

Espírito Santo did see his side go close however, when Mateus Fernandes tried his luck but visiting goalkeeper Karl Darlow managed to push the ball away.

Felipe was heavily involved again minutes later when he combined well with Castellanos. The Brazilian seemed certain to score but, he only found the side netting.

Lukas Nmecha saw an effort go wide shortly after James Justin had made a hash of his own attempt. Thankfully though, the Irons remained untroubled.

Leeds had already won here in an Emirates FA Cup quarter-final tie last month and were chasing the league double over the Irons.

They had another great chance to pile on the pressure when Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who put his side into a commanding position when the teams last met. He had an opportunity to open the scoring this time around. The former Everton striker was on the end of a cross from Nmecha but fortunately for the majority inside the stadium, he was unable to convert his close-range shot past Hermansen.

It was déjà vu for Calvert-Lewin a matter of minutes later when he had another shot intercepted by newly crowned Hammer of the Year Konstantinos Mavropanos. The ball then fell back into the path of Jayden Bogle who fired into the side netting.

Felipe has been trying to get his first goal in Claret and Blue for several weeks now and after not achieving it with his first attempt, he went ever so close to finding it when he tried his luck again, but it was the same old story. That being said however, a small number of the home fans thought he had claimed it however, it wasn’t to be.

Referee Anthony Taylor blew the half-time whistle and although there was no change in the scoreline here, the hosts were still hoping that their old boss could inspire his current team to turn things around elsewhere.

Felipe didn’t appear for the start of the second-half, meaning that Wilson was sent on to give Farke’s men something different to think about.

To be fair to the replacement striker, he nearly made an instant impact, as he played in Castellanos. However, the club’s second January signing couldn’t prevent Darlow from getting to the effort first.

Unless there was a turnaround across the capital, the East Londoners knew that they were playing for pride, but they had to weather another wave of pressure, as Brenden Aaronson had three opportunities to put his side in front. It was fair to say that the majority inside the stadium were relieved that all of them were wasted.

The Irons then took over and Castellanos benefited from a ricochet off the back of Ao Tanaka but unfortunately, the striker couldn’t make the most of the opportunity, as he sent it over the top.

As luck should have it, he had another chance minutes later, though on this occasion, he did beat Darlow. Wilson had a shot blocked and a corner was awarded but it was cleared for another to be given seconds later. Captain Jarrod Bowen’s second delivery was met by the former Lazio player who gave the Welshman no chance, as he headed in at the far post.

It seemed as if the hosts needed that spark to make themselves comfortable, even though there was no indication from the crowd that the score had changed six miles down the road going north.

Remarkably, today’s visitors to Stratford hadn’t won a top-flight game in London since their final day success at Brentford in 2023 and this was set to continue as Bowen notched his first goal since the costly 3-2 defeat at Chelsea back on 31 January. The skipper finished off a great team move involving both Mavropanos and Fernandes to seal another home success.

With two minutes of normal time to play, the home side made their second change, as Castellanos made way for Kanté.

Given the margin of the two clubs’ respective goal differences at the start of play, then Espírito Santo’s men would have needed a twelve-goal swing to maintain their Premier League status. Well, they managed to get three!!!

In the last of the four minutes of stoppage time that were added, Wilson came up with a goal that surely would have been an award-winning one, had he scored it earlier. Trust me, if there had been any more power in his shot, then it would have taken the net off!!!

That was the final kick of West Ham’s season, as Taylor blew the whistle. However, the action at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was not yet over, due to a technical problem with the VAR equipment at the start of the second-half, meaning there was still six minutes left in that game and whatever was added for stoppages. With that in mind, the majority of Espírito Santo’s squad remained on the pitch, as they waited for any further developments but there were none.

For the second time in twenty three years, the Irons have gone down with the highest points total.

There is already speculation as to whether the team will be under yet another new Head-Coach for the start of the new campaign. News on that, as well as everything else going on at the club will be confirmed on this site throughout the summer.