When David Moyes left West Ham United this summer, it opened the door for change. Many supporters felt that despite the Scot’s success, bringing the club its first piece of major European silverware after winning the UEFA Europa Conference League in Prague, that he had taken the club as far as he could.
Ambitions of big European nights were put on hold by inconsistent performances in the league, culminating in Moyes departing the Irons back in May. Enter Julen Lopetegui. The ambitious Spaniard oversaw a successful stint at Wolverhampton Wanderers but is better known for his activity outside of the Premier League – winning Europa League titles with Sevilla while developing an exciting group of players.
Lopetegui oversaw an exciting summer at West Ham in which plenty of new arrivals had fans thinking about a place in the coveted top eight once again. However, things haven’t entirely gone to plan.
Manchester United’s visit on October 27 will be the chance for Lopetegui to record just his second win on home soil, having been bested in the majority of games at the London Stadium so far.
While it’s too early for alarm bells to be ringing, and the West Ham v Man U bet market suggest the Irons have a fighting chance, the new man will know things will need to get up and running at home soon in order to build some momentum.
The pressure is all on Erik ten Hag, and with West Ham facing some tough early fixtures, it could provide the perfect moment to further expose the fragilities in the Red Devils’ side. That said, the Irons have flattered to deceive so far themselves, especially at home.
In this article, we look at some of West Ham’s early home fixtures and try to assess where things have unravelled for Lopetegui in the early stages of the season.
West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa
A challenging open day saw Aston Villa visit east London – Unai Emery getting the best of his Spanish compatriot with a 2-1 win on the road.
With the hosts starting nervously, new Villa signing Amadou Onana opened his account for the visitors after just four minutes, and while Lucas Paqueta drew the Hammers level at the interval with a penalty, the rest of the side weren’t at the races.
The second half was more even, but off the bench, Jhon Duran – who was set to join West Ham earlier in the summer – arrived to score the winner 11 minutes from time.
West Ham 1-3 Manchester City
After consecutive wins away at Crystal Palace and then against Bournemouth in the League Cup, West Ham came undone against the goalscoring might of Erling Haaland as defending champions Manchester City continued their unbeaten streak.
Haaland scored a hat-trick after a Ruben Dias own goal looked to give the Irons a lifeline, but with just two shots on target and 32% possession, Lopetegui fell short against worthy winners.
West Ham 0-3 Chelsea
In a derby that West Ham have had so much recent success in, fans walked out early as Chelsea steamrolled the hosts on the same day where their knockout blows were almost as early and as emphatic as Daniel Dubois’ were on Anthony Joshus at Wembley later that evening.
In the early kick-off, West Ham never got going despite being the favourites amongst football odds – Nicholas Jackson’s brace before the 18th minute was followed by a Cole Palmer strike to wrap up the result two minutes into the second half. This simply can’t happen again under Lopetegui.
West Ham 4-1 Ipswich Town
The first win of the season at home for the Hammers came with a 4-1 thrashing of newly promoted Ipswich Town.
A flurry of action saw Michael Antonio score after just 50 seconds before Liam Delap drew the travelling Tractor Boys level eight minutes later.
From there though, the Irons took over. Mohammed Kudus restored the lead, before second-half goals from Jarrod Bowen and Paqueta wrapped up all three points.
