I just checked my count down timer to find that there was still 43 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes and 56 seconds until the kick off against Aston Villa for the first game of the season.

To add insult to this, our first game this year is an away game so it’s actually 50 days, 19 hours, 7 minutes and 10 seconds until our kick off against Bolton for the first home game of the season.

This got me thinking. What are the chances that on either the first game of the season or the first home game of the season West Ham will come away with 3 points, and I’ll come away with a smile of my face…. and just how was I going to work that out?

That’s when the statistics over at http://www.westhamstats.info came into play.

I grabbed the list of this years Premier League teams off from the BBC and then collected the past 25 match results from West Ham Stats (although some teams haven’t played West Ham 25 times…. who would have thought).

With this information we put together a prediction of West Hams performance this year based on their previous history. We broke it up into 4 main sections, the Top 4 of 2009/2010, the New 3 Clubs for 2010/2011, and the remaining teams in the 2010/2011 Premier League.

The Top 4

I can already here your complaints now….. that Tottenham do not deserve to be in the Top 4 listing. Unfortunately facts are facts and they did come in 4th last year.

The silver lining in this is that had we left Liverpool in the the Top 4 then we would be taking even less points with Liverpool having probably the best record against us (with Everton not too far off).

Arsenal

This is our best chance to take 3 points from one of the regular top 4 teams. Last year this was probably one of our favourite games with the Hammers coming back from 2-0 to seal an impressive draw.

“two nil and you fucked it up, two nil and you fucked it up”

Chelsea

“Where ever you may be, you aint got no history” …. but you’ve damn sure got a good record against us. Sure, most of Chelsea’s better players are a result of West Ham’s youth programme, but they enjoy reducing our goal difference while playing at Stamford Bridge.

Our best chance would be to steal a point at home, lets make it a fortress.

Manchester United

Although in the past few years we like to think of ourselves as Manchester Uniteds bogey team, statistics tell us otherwise. Looks like no points from the giants.

Tottenham Hotspur

Not the most loved team, but under our former manager Harry Redknapp they seem to be doing well for themselves.
Although a nasty backpass from Carlton Cole sent Defoe through for an easy goal, we love to beat the Hotspurs, count us in for at least a home win.

The New 3

Blackpool

Blackpool is one of the clubs that we haven’t played too much against, but we’ve never lost to them at home. This is a good chance to prove the statistics wrong and get an extra couple of points.

West Brom

Sure to be pissed with us over the past, but the Home and Away record is strong for West Ham. Looks like we can help make sure that West Brom only see another year in the Premier League before heading back down again.

Newcastle United

It’s good to see them back in the Premier League, but not with our Away record against them. I’m backing this is another one where we can prove the statistics wrong and take an extra point from them this year.

The remaining 2010/2011 Premier League

Aston Villa

Villa just could not do right against us last year…. and judging by the statistics they have always struggled to get all the points from us.
Typically finishing higher then us in the League table, we have a good record to steal a draw both home and away.

Birmingham City

Birmingham got off to the best start they could have last year, but we predict they will be in the lower part of the table this year. Our Win ratio at home is good, and we’re not far off the pace while playing them away.

We’re backing we prove the statistics wrong here and pull the full 6 from them.

Blackburn Rovers

We have not lost at home to Blackburn in at least the past 15 or so games. Our away record isn’t all that crash hot, but we can count on at least 3 points here.

Bolton Wonders

One of the worse performances I have ever seen from West Ham at home was against Bolton last year. Although I’m going to be putting a bet on Kevin Davis to score, I can not see us playing that bad under a new Manager and am looking forward to making Bolton our first Home win on the season.

Everton

Everyone needs a bogey team, and Everton is ours. Last year at Upton Park I watch two shots on target from Everton and several from us. Final score was 1-2.

We’re backing another two losses to Everton this year, but we’ll be happy to be proved wrong.

Fulham

The team with the worse chant in Football history. “Come on Fulham, Come on Fulham”

Even with Bobby Zamora and their impressive run last year, we’re going to stick with the history books and go with 6 points from our London opponents.

Liverpool

The less said the better. Even with all their trouble last year we still couldn’t steal a point from them.

Lets just hope our goal difference isn’t too badly affected.

Manchester City

With our beloved Tevez up front and now David Vila David Silva making the move over, Manchester City could very well take us to the cleaners.

We managed to hold them to a draw at home last year, but neither team was playing for anything by that stage. We’ll have to play well to get that win at home.

Stoke City

Historically a walk in the (upton) Park for us at home and an even record for Wins/Losses Away. Under Avram we’re sure that we can take the full 6 points.

Sunderland

Another occasion where we’ve got an impressive record both Home and Away. With a bit of structure under the new Manager we’re backing at least a home win and draw away.

Wigan Athletic

Strangely we’ve got a better record against Wigan on the road. It’s a team like this that we can really make our move up the table this year and steer well clear from that bloody relegation zone.

Wolverhampton Wolves

After an impressive win away on the first game of the season the Wolves nearly put us into the Championship when we hosted them at Upton Park.

Statistics say it’s an easy 3 points at home and we’ve already shown what we can do away.

Conclusion

All those stats point towards the following outcomes……..

2010/2011 Season Totals

• Wins: 18
• Draws: 5
• Loses: 15
• Points: 59
• Position: 9th

As the year goes on we will track to see how we’ve gone with the predictions. There is sure to be an upset go against us, and one or two that will go our way as well.

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