What was a bleak half of missed opportunities for West Ham was overcome in the second half against Crystal Palace on Saturday as the Hammers walked off of their home field with a 3-2 victory. As a new West Ham fan, jumping on the bandwagon before the start of the season, I've never been more excited or proud to support the Hammers, who have now won their last three contests.
The match started rough for West Ham as they missed a golden opportunity and then conceded a sloppy goal at 6'. It was clear that this match would be high scoring from the start with both teams having a lot of space for their offense to work. It wasn't until 48' that West Ham would get even. After taking control of the match 14 minutes later, West Ham would cruise to a solid victory.
Highlights
Thanks to a West Ham fan, we have the highlights from the vantage point of the home crowd shown above. Among West Ham's three goals were two of the best of the year with Robert Snodgrass and Felipe Anderson making clean strikes from outside the box (I hope my football vocabulary is on point here, please let me know if not below), beating the Crystal Palace keeper.
This match proved that even without star Arnautovic, the Hammers are able to create enough scoring chances to compete with anyone in the league. In their past three matches, West Ham has outscored opponents 9-3.
Moving Up The Standings
No, that's not a mistake, West Ham is currently in 10th place in the EPL standings. At 21 points, they are a signle victory away from jumping over as many as three teams, including Everton, Bournemouth, and Leicester City. It's a stunning rise for a team that looked like they may be on the relegation bubble just a month ago.
What's Next for West Ham?
As I've mentioned before, December is by far the easiest month for West Ham this season. To end the month, West Ham has four straight matches against teams outside of the top-10. Next up, they'll face a Fullham team that might as well be relegated now. They will then face Watford, Southampton, and Burnley. I would be surprised if they did not earn at least 6-7 points during this stretch, and it's not out of the question that they could take 9 points away from these four matches. It's a great time to be a fan of the Hammers!
What do you think of West Ham's rise in the standings?
By the way, if you missed my announcement, I am a part of the Team Good witness. I would appreciate your consideration and I'm happy to answer questions or provide information to help you in your decision whether or not to vote for Team Good. You can use @guiltyparties' tool to vote at guiltyparties.com/scorum.
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