Garth Crooks says West Ham are fortunate to survive the drop.
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic
Garth Crooks has told BBC Sport that he feels West Ham are lucky to have avoided relegation.
The Hammers confirmed their survival with a victory over Tottenham on Friday night, making it mathematically impossible that they could go down.
The pundit said that considering the move to the London Stadium, expectations were too high and even took a thinly veiled dig at the owners.
Garth Crooks
He said: “There will be fans who expect much more than mid-table mediocrity from the Hammers, some of whom spend most of their time sitting in the directors’ box.
“However, they are deluding themselves. West Ham have gone through a tremendous upheaval this season and in my opinion they are lucky to have survived.
“In fact, without Slaven Bilic and Manuel Lanzini I doubt whether they would have.”
West Ham United’s Manuel Lanzini celebrates scoring their first goal
Last season West Ham finished in seventh place, which made this season’s task tough, even to get close to it.
The Hammers are currently in 12th place, 16 points behind seventh placed Everton, who themselves have taken a big leap forward this campaign.
West Ham have struggled to adapt to playing at the London Stadium, but memorable nights like Friday’s game against Tottenham will help them feel more at home, and next season it might begin to get a little bit easier.
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