Sky Sports pundit Danny Higginbotham explains why West Ham are at a big disadvantage to relegation rivals

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West Ham United are in the thick of the relegation battle ahead of the visit of Burnley to the London Stadium.

West Ham looked to have turned a corner under David Moyes when a 2-0 win over Watford elevated them up to midtable and onto 30 points.

But back-to-back 4-1 defeats to Liverpool and relegation rivals Swansea City has dragged the Hammers back into the thick of things in one of the most congested survival battles in recent memory.

Supporters are furious with the side’s performances of late and many fear they have hit poor form at the wrong time with rivals steadily improving.

West Ham face an obdurate Burnley side who visit the London Stadium with one of the best away records in the country.

And Sky Sports pundit Danny Higginbotham, who previously felt West Ham would comfortably avoid the drop, has explained why they are now at a distinct disadvantage to their rivals.

“They could be the team that get dragged in,” Higginbotham told Sky Sports Daily.

“Because I think if you look at the majority of the teams around them, I think West Brom – and probably West Brom supporters as well have probably written them off to a certain extent – I think Stoke’s supporters a lot of them are probably looking at it and think it’s going to be really tough.

“But West Ham are the team probably arguably with the most amount of pressure that’s down there because of the simple fact you know they’ve been in the Premier League (more often than not) and they’re one of the biggest clubs that are in that relegation fight and they looked as though they were getting out of it, Moyes defensively made them stronger, but they’ve just started to concede a lot of goals culminating in the big Swansea defeat so it’s hard for them.

“There’s going to be more pressure on them than there is on most of those teams at the bottom because there’s newly promoted teams and there’s teams that aren’t seen as (being) as good as West Ham.”

West Ham face a six-pointer against Burnley today before another huge clash against fellow strugglers Southampton next time out.

Victory in both those home games would surely see the club on their way to safety. Defeat doesn’t bear thinking about given the fact the Hammers face Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton in the run-in.