West Ham United F.C. manager Sam Allardyce believes his side’s hopes of achieving a top-four finish in the English Premier League will be hampered by the Hammers’ inability to compete financially with England’s biggest clubs.
The Hammers (9-4-4), fresh off a 2-0 win over Leicester City on Saturday, are currently in fourth-place in the league table.
The likes of Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur are behind West Ham in the table, but it will be very difficult for Big Sam’s side to keep the aforementioned quartet in their rear-view mirror for the entire campaign.
Nonetheless, Allardyce, who made a number of fantastic summer signings–including Aaron Cresswell, Alex Song (on loan from Barcelona), Carl Jenkinson, Cheikhou Kouyaté, Diafra Sakho, and Enner Valencia–earlier this year, is hoping the East Londoners can secure a top-six finish, which would book them a place in the UEFA Europa League next term.
“The top four in the Premier League is very difficult to break into if you haven’t got the same spending power as them,” said Allardyce.
“Lots of us have lived on the fringes in the past, I did the same at Bolton for the last two or three years. To try and get there is something that would have been beyond the club’s owner’s will at the time, for the spending power you need to fund for it.
“For us this season, it’s just enjoying the position we’re in and seeing at the end in January whether we reset our own goals and say ‘can we finish in the top six, is it possible?’
“If we carry on the way we are, we’re predicted a top-four finish. But whether we will or whether we won’t is another matter.”
Additionally, Big Sam has hinted the club may be able to bring in one ‘top’ player next month, but only if both the player and price are right.
Allardyce added: “Everybody has to understand we are well into the second year of FFP so we are all in a much more difficult position when every window comes, with the limit on spending power, not just transfer fees but wages. And that’s across the board now.
“When it comes to January, it’s not about asking the owners to go and find this amount of money or that amount of money, even if they wanted to. They could perhaps do it but at the end of the season, they’d get a hefty fine. We’ve got those restrictions.
“So I’d say one top player, if he became available, would be something we’d pursue – but someone may have to leave to fund that. There’s no point in bringing in anybody less than a top player because what we’ve got now is top drawer at the minute. We’ve got 22 players all fighting for places in the team and playing really, really well.
“I think we’ve covered all positions this year; we’ve never had as many front men and we’ve changed the system so we don’t need too many wide men. The ones in the team at the minute keep the shirt but they know they have to play their best because the ones waiting to take their place are eager to do that.
“At the moment the squad looks really tight, there’s good camaraderie – but if somebody came in January, that was an outstanding player then yes.”
West Ham’s next three league fixtures are against Chelsea, Arsenal, and West Bromwich Albion, respectively.
Now then, can the Hammers secure a top-six finish in the Premier League this season?
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