da bwin： West Ham, despite yet another mid-table finish, are in the running to play European football next season.
da bet vitoria： According to UEFA’s new rules the Premier League will be awarded an additional fair play place in the Europa League. If the Hammers do win that honour then they will have to make it through qualifying rounds. It may seem exciting for West Ham supporters but in reality it will probably prove to be a massive headache for the club.
There are many uncertainties already surrounding the Hammers at present, notably the future of manager Sam Allardyce. Big Sams contract expires next month and the club, if they valued him, would have started renewal negotiations ages ago.
A meeting is expected to take place on Monday but if West Ham take the fair play place then their season will restart as early as July 2, with a possible six games before they even start their pre-season.
Will they keep Big Sam for this process or bring in someone else? With some players out of contract, too, will they get short-term extensions or will the club just name a reduced squad?
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Either way, by the time the Premier League kicks off in August, the Hammers will not be as fresh as their opponents and West Ham can hardly afford to start their season badly. The team struggled as this season progressed and are fortunate that they had such an impressive start to the campaign or they might have been in trouble right now.
Nowadays teams have labelled the Europa League as an unwanted distraction, with participants finding the Thursday evening fixtures fatiguing. This season in particular has seen a possible correlation between playing in the Europa League and a poorer than normal domestic campaign.
Everton have had European aspirations for a while now and were awarded their place in the tournament after finishing fifth last season. But Roberto Martinez has found his second season in charge much more difficult with the Toffees dropping uncomfortably close to the relegation zone and even now, with just one game to go, they sit down in 10th, which is definitely a disappointing campaign compared with the last one. To make matters worse, Everton only made it as far as the last 16 of the Europa League, therefore having nothing to show for all of their hard work and sacrifice.
You could argue that West Ham have a much weaker side than Everton so participation in the Europa League is likely to end just as fruitless and could possibly push the Hammers into the Championship after three years back in the top-flight.
The club, who will be moving to the Olympic Stadium in the 2016-17 season, are sure to mitigate for the potential added pressure but only time will tell if they can make the right signings needed to improve the squad.
I can’t help but think that the Hammers would actually be better off missing out on the fair play spot this time around. First they need to sort out who will actually be managing the club next season and also address a severe lack of strength in depth.
Then in the year they make their big move to Stratford the Hammers should be ready to take on the challenge without having to worry whether or not they can cope with the extra demands.
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