West Ham will look to ease the burden on under-fire manager Manuel Pellegrini by making three signings in the January transfer window.
The Hammers picked up a valuable 1-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday to provide the Chilean with some much-needed respite, but there is no denying that performances have been unacceptable over the past couple of months.
A run of five games unbeaten was followed by a stretch of seven games without a win which, prior to the win over Chelsea, had seen the Hammers plummet down to 17th place in the Premier League table.
Pellegrini has been without number one goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski for a couple of months due to injury, and it’s
Former Arsenal youngster Chuba Akpom, now plying his trade for Greek side PAOK, is thought to be one striking option in the pipeline, while Jack Butland has previously been mentioned as a possible arrival in the goalkeeping ranks.
Roberto has deputised for the injured Fabianski on the whole, but a string of utterly dreadful performances, which wouldn’t have looked out of place in League Two, saw the Spaniard dropped for the clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, leaving third choice David Martin – who signed for the club after being released by MK Dons – to step into the breach.
He kept a clean sheet on his Premier League debut, but West Ham are well aware that improved competition is required for Fabianski, who is expected to return to full fitness in the New Year.
A central midfield signing would also be of great benefit to the Hammers, with the workload on ageing captain Mark Noble perhaps unsustainable at this point of his career.
Declan Rice is the main anchor in West Ham’s midfield, but the failure to replace Pedro Obiang in the summer has left Pellegrini short of options, given Jack Wilshere’s injury problems and Carlos Sanchez’s decline in performance levels.
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