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When West Ham United moved from the Boleyn Ground to the London Stadium hopes were high following a seventh place finish in the Barclays Premier League, the season got off to a rocky start with a narrow 1-0 victory over Bournemouth. Not long after Watford were the visitors and for the first 25 minutes Hammers and in particular Dimitri Payet were in their pomp, racing to a 2-0 lead courtesey of more flicks and Rabonna's than a Ronaldo birthday party, jubilant fans couldn't believe what they were seeing, and then it all went wrong!

The term 'Only The Needy And The Greedy', in football parlance, is usually referenced to people who work over the christmas period, particularly sports commentators who are working! However the term can also accurately describe the transfer activity of clubs once the transfer window opens for the Barclays Premier League in January.

The recent turn around in Hammers' fortunes has been little short of spectacular, there is a definite feel good factor about the club despite a near catostrophic injury list that just seems to keep on growing. Unfortunately one of those on the long term list is Jack Wilshere, hindsight is a wonderful thing and with the benefit of hindsight signing Jack Wilshere on a three year deal on £100,000 per week wasn't the wisest of choices.

Well there we were hoping to see the look on Jose Mourinho's face as Manuel Pellegrini's West Ham overtook Mourinho's beleagured Manchester United side in the Barclays Premier League, unfortunately fate has dealt that aspiration a blow with what many knew would happen, namely the sacking of the 'Sour One'. Such a pity, because whoever comes in to replace him will surely galvanise United's players making the task of Hammers finishing ahead of them more difficult but not impossible.

West Ham United currently sit two points behind Manchester United and with the same goal difference, this coming Saturday Hammers are at home to Watford then travel to Southampton on the 27th and Burnley on the 30th before welcoming Brighton to the London Stadium. The Red Devils have Cardiff, Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Newcastle to come, so will be expecting to pick up plenty of points but with their current malaise under the "Sour One' Jose Mourinho who knows?

The Oxford to leave West Ham story has been doing the rounds just ahead of the January transfer window opening, it is widely believed that Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini doesn't 'fancy' the 6'3" midfielder and has given his verdict on the once incredibly coveted youngster. The Oxford situation is a strange one, essentially the club, especially Slaven Billic, thought that Oxford was going to be the next Rio Ferdinand and therefore cosseted him and gave him a very substantial £20,000 per week contract in order to head off interest from a whole host of top clubs.

West Ham have been considering a January loan move for Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira, the midfielder has been used sparingly by Jose Mourinho this season and has rejected the club's offer of a new three-year contract. United do have an option to extend it by a further year, which they are set to take up although apparently only to avoid losing him on a free transfer.

When Manuel Pellegrini became West Ham United manager he immediately set about completely revamping the squad, so many new players arrived it was obviously going to take time for them to gell. At the time Pellegrini's wisdom of bringing so many new players in at once was questioned, however with Hammers now looking towards European qualification despite having eight players currently sidelined. If the squad assembled had not had so much strength in depth things would have been completely different.

Fulham FC: Rico, Odoi, Mawson, Chambers, Ream, Bryan, Seri, Schurrle, Cairney, Kamara, Mitrovic.Subs: Bettinelli, Kebano, Johansen, Ayite, Vietto, Christie, Cisse.
West Ham Utd: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Balbuena, Diop, Masuaku, Snodgrass, Noble, Rice, Anderson, Hernandez, Antonio. Subs: Adrian, Cresswell, Carroll, Obiang, Ogbonna, Costa Silva, Diangana.

Reading and listening to some of the 'gungho' comments made ahead of West Ham's match against Fulham you would think the game had already been won! How very far from the truth can that be? Just because Hammers have managed to win three matches on the spin why on earth do fans and pundits think Craven Cottage is going to be an easy place to play at?