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Chelsea's victory over Leicester last night ensured West Ham could no longer qualify for the Champions League, it was not as if it were a surprise is it? This leaves the Europa League as an alternative, however there is every possibility that the dreaded 'Con' Cup might be an end result, or maybe no European competition at all!

Indeed there are some that argue Hammers would be better off by NOT qualifying for the 'Con'ference Cup, arguing with some reason that the extra travelling and game commitment will stretch any squad, particularly one that has a paucity of strength in depth.

It is an entirely new competition aimed at countries 'B' Teams, any new system will have 'niggles' to be smoothed out, and do Hammers really want to be guinea pigs? Perhaps it WOULD be better to miss out on Europe if it is not possible to gain a 'proper' Europa League place, and even qualifying directly would put an enormous strain on the club's resources.

It should be remembered how the Europa League impacted on Wolves, a club with a similarly 'slim' squad and other teams that competed, it took a team with a vast squad, ie: Manchester United to reach the final against Villa Real.

There is a parallel between 'lusting' after European Competition and having players represent their countries, each situation is gratifying, but the price paid can be catastrophic, Declan Rice's injury picked up while representing England is a case in point.

Perhaps finishing eighth this season would be preferable to finishing seventh? Whereas finishing sixth would be fine, tonight's game against Big Sam's West Brom at the Hawthorns, with fans in attendance, will seal the deal either way, win and the dream continues, lose and it would then be better to play out a draw against Southampton on the final day.

Of course only trying to attain a draw on the final day has it's risks, but even losing would probably be better than entering the 'Con' Cup, and while it is entirely counter-intuitive to NOT want to score points, Hammers may well have to face up to some awkward decisions.

Whatever happens it has been a season that is rich with good memories, but a salient example of how a critical lack of investment at the time when it was most needed came back to bite the club's 'asp'irations! Next season there will be fans back in Stadia, maybe not to full capacity, but full enough for fans to make their feelings known.

It is to be hoped that Moyes's boys are supported and not denigrated by what has traditionally always been a relatively fickle crowd, perhaps being denied the opportunity to have a good 'shout up' about the players will be tempered with a degree of appreciation.

If the players perform as they have done for the vast majority of the season, then there is absolutely no reason as to why the London Stadium shouldn't become Hammers fortress! - Ed

Seeing the Liverpool goalkeeper head in their winning goal against the Baggies in the dying seconds of the game will have left many Hammers fans with that 'sinking feeling', and all that after seeing 'Tottingham' go above the Irons on goal difference as well!

Scrapping for a spot in the aptly named 'Europa Con-ference" Cup against Hammers rivals from North London wasn't on the agenda six weeks ago, just ahead of the International games fans were eagerly anticipating the final run in of what could have been the club's most successful season ever.

As so often happens, fate conspired to deprive the club of it's main asset, Declan Rice, and the rest as they say is history. There is no use crying about it, the price a 'small club' pays for the privilege of having their player represent their country can be disproportionate to that of other clubs with huge squads and virtually unlimited resources.

Over the years so many Hammers players have been injured, usually severely, while away on International duty, it's the same for other clubs, but it just seems that West Ham who do produce and sign great players suffer more than clubs of the same size.

Realistically, wherever the club ends up it will be far higher than anyone dared dream of at the start of the season, particularly after the first two games. The manager will have his players fired up for the remaining two games, because he knows it is in their hands exactly what European competition, if any, they end up competing in.

The Europa League is still definitely possible, it is a far preferable destination than the 'Con' Cup that would involve enormous effort for very little return. The relatively disappointing end to the season can still have a silver lining , results may need to go West Ham's way in other games, but at least the club is still in with a shout, right up until the last minute of Sunday's season closer, against Southampton, in front of the fans at the London stadium.

Of course the Elephant in the room is Big Sam, he whose team lost out in the last minute against Liverpool, he is NOT going to play nice is he? Why should he anyway? Failure to get a result up at the Hawthorns on Wednesday will not render Sunday's game as value less, but it would mean the difference between Europa and The 'Con'Cup. It is probably politically incorrect to say it nowadays, but, " It ain't all over until the Fat Lady sings!"- Ed

Jesse Ligard's impact since he arrived at the London Stadium on loan from Manchester United has been nothing short of brilliant, goals, assists, you name it. Such have been his performances that his value has rocketed to the point where it is becoming increasingly unreachable by West Ham.

Manchester would not sanction a 'right to buy' clause in lingard's loan deal, consequently they will use his 'contribution' to Hammers unlikely, and ultimately failed, attempt at reaching the Champions League as a rod to break the Irons back, essentially they will price West Ham out of the market, as there are plenty of other suitors out there for his services both at home and abroad.

There are some who say the quality of Lingard's performances have dropped significantly of late, as is often the case when a player has 'come in from the cold', their adrenalin levels are on 'full chaff' initially, but then the physicality of what they are doing catches up with them.

It may be unfair to judge Lingard over the last few games because the 'nuts and bolts' of the team have changed so much due to injury and suspension, obviously the most notable being Declan Rice, how the team has missed him for the previous six games, a run which saw all the good work of the previous months come undone.

With the Champions League now out of sight barring a miracle, Hammers have to pick themselves up and ensure qualification for the Europa League at a high enough position to avoid the preliminary rounds, or the dreaded and awfully named 'conference' Cup!

One player who may well prove to be invaluable for the remaining games is Said Benrahma, his sublime goal against Brighton to draw Hammers level was hopefully his first of many for the club, the weight will have been lifted from his shoulders and fans will now see the real player inside that has just been waiting to shine.

David Moyes responded when asked by reporters whether that goal was what Benrahma has been waiting for and suggested that he is hoping that there is more to come from the talented winger.“Yes, and so have we. We have been waiting on a goal and we got one tonight. We brought him in with that in mind and I am glad he has got that first goal and hopefully he will go on and get a lot more.”

One of the reasons Moyes has been unable to select Benrahma in his starting line up is that Lingard and the Algerian International play a similar style of football, so the Hammers manager has been spoiled for choice, but has had to try and accommodate an 'expensive' loan signing, in conjunction with a loan signing made 'expensively' permanent.

The lower in the table Hammers finish, the less likelihood there will be of making Lingard's loan deal permanent, and David Moyes, who everyone now realises is NOT a managerial dinosaur, has a track record of guiding players through the tricky task of facing top quality teams week in week out, and he could well be forced to 'convert' Benrahma to replace Lingard.

This is not as easy a task as it looks, Moyes took months to integrate Jarrod Bowen in to the first team after he had arrived from Hull City, likewise he took a long time to fully utilise the 'Duracell Bunny' that is Pablo Fornals , but Benrahma has it all in his locker to become a truly great player for West Ham, his silky skills will be a crowd pleaser when fans are finally able to attend games, and it is testimony to the players temperament that he has got his head down and worked hard when given the opportunity, a prerequisite for any Moyes first teamer.

Of course in an ideal world West Ham will make lingard's move permanent, but we don't live in an ideal world, and as we have said before, Lingard's form has dipped of late, and it will be interesting to see how he gets on against the Baggies and the Saints in the final two games of the Barclays Premier League season. - Ed

Brighton: Sánchez, White, Webster, Burn, Moder, Groß (c), Bissouma, Alzate, Jahanbakhsh, Trossard, Welbeck Subs: Steele (GK), Karbownik, Tau, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Lallana, Connolly, Andone, Zeqiri
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice (c), Soucek, Bowen, Lingard, Fornals, Antonio Subs: Randolph (GK), Fredericks, Johnson, Balbuena, Diop, Noble, Benrahma, Yarmolenko, Odubeko