Confident Hammers starting to look like real deal

Standard Sport

- Simon Collings

Aston Villa 1 Watkins 34

West Ham 4 Johnson 7, Rice 38, Fornals 80, Bowen 84

THE biggest compliment you can pay West Ham after this resounding win over Aston Villa is that it was not really a surprise.

Over the past 18 months, their critics have been waiting for the bubble to burst under David Moyes, but it is now getting to the point where it must be accepted they are contenders to break into the Premier League’s top four this season.

This victory only added to the growing body of evidence that the Hammers are the real deal. They sit fourth in the Premier League after 10 games with 20 points, the same as Manchester City, and only during the 1975-76 campaign have they had more at this stage of the season.

“A football manager’s job is to try to raise expectations,” said Moyes. “There is raising them and not being stupid and saying silly things.

“But I do think that after 10 games that is normally a pretty good time to sort of judge where you are.

“So I’m really pleased, because the players are doing a remarkable job. The big thing is that me and they do not think that we’ve done it, because we have 28 or so games to go.”