Doomsday

Six points to have any chance, and it still might not be enough. It seems that my suggestion back in December that the compression of the Premiership table would require an unusually high points total for survival, has come to fruition. Moreover the gap between finishing 17th and European qualification is potentially just four wins. Ah yes, the best League in the world.

Although finishing in the bottom three is now virtually certain, it is however important that we finish 18th rather than 19th, to maintain a small chance of a legal reprieve. The two goals scored today by Tevez may just be the worst thing that could happen to West Ham in a perverse way; the back page story in The Times suggests there may be more twists and turns in this story.

However we are clutching at straws. We have consistently been one of the worst three teams in the Premiership and deserve to be relegated. Pardew has done fantastically well to have given us hope, but it was a tall order given the situation he inherited, and the lack of January funds. However I had a bad feeling after the Man City game, ironically perhaps given that we had just exited the relegation zone for the first time. When Pards said that, "Coming here and winning was always going to be a tough call for us so a draw is a good result for us," I found myself disagreeing with his sentiments for the first time. We haven't won since.

Meanwhile across the river, whilst Curbs has won back the favour of the Hammers fans, he is hardly a miracle-worker.....24 points from 20 games (having spent £18m) is virtually the minimum return that his desperate Chairman would have expected. Oh and of course, their best player is a sham.

How we got in this situation, and how we rebuild can be the subject for lengthy post-season analysis. In the meantime, it would be nice to at least give the teams above us something more to think about by winning on Monday, and whilst on the subject of straw-clutching, did you see the team Liverpool put out at Fulham?