If West Ham did things the easy way then they wouldn’t be in this mess.
So when news filtered through that Joao Palhinha had put Tottenham Hotspur in front at Wolves and four minutes later Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall smashed in an equaliser that plunged West Ham back into the relegation zone on goal difference, many supporters wanted to blow out the candles, pop the balloons and go home. This party was over.
But this West Ham side aren’t mentally fragile. Not like Tottenham have been.
And so many supporters stayed. The rallying cry from club legends, the manager, captain Jarrod Bowen, it was heeded by thousands among a fanbase that are no stranger to leaving in their droves due to being let down by those on the pitch.
The gladiatorial roar rang around the London Stadium with eight added minutes illuminated on the fourth official’s board. Nuno Espirito Santo still a figure of remarkable consistency and stoicism. Inside his stomach will have been doing the same cartwheels those in the stands were.
If you’re going to survive a relegation battle as tight as this one, you need a bit of luck.
Callum Wilson came on to score one of the biggest goals of West Ham’s season so far
The substitute was on hand to convert in stoppage time following Jarrod Bowen’s header
West Ham got that when Tomas Soucek, who nodded in an opener to get the party started, cleared off his own line after Thierno Barry crashed a header of his own off the bar.
The luck went on, West Ham seemingly masquerading as a cat with nine lives, not least when Mateus Fernandes escaped a blatant handball swipe from behind Barry that VAR, bizarrely, waved away.
So West Ham kept their heads and looked for a show-stopping finish to a party that had delivered so much on a day that David Moyes, returning here for the first time since getting the boot in 2024, celebrated his 63rd birthday in rather miserable fashion.
Then it arrived. That moment. The one that thousands of West Ham fans may look back on as the moment that saves their Premier League status.
Caution firmly thrown to the wind, El Hadji Malick Diouf whipped in a cross in hope rather than expectation and Bowen managed to elongate every inch of his frame to head it back across where Callum Wilson, on from the bench, converted to deliver the show-stopper.
There is always the temptation amid a relegation battle to mix things up, introduce gimmicks, in a bid to shake things up.
That’s what Tottenham are experiencing now. Roberto De Zerbi hired to be a firefighter. A team bonding meal that fell flat on its face for predecessor Igor Tudor. The latest effort is showing players highlight reels from when they were good. Can they remember that?
There’s none of that at West Ham.
Nuno wants three things and his route to getting them, in his mind, is doing everything in his power not to panic.
Solidity, commitment, unity. Those are the trio of traits he believes will keep them in the Premier League.
Heading in to this one it was just one league goal conceded here at the London Stadium since Manchester United got out of jail with a largely undeserved point on February 10.
Commitment is not in question – you don’t see the pitch for Nuno without it – and so that left unity. Anxiety needed to transform into blind optimism if nothing else.
So the club wheeled out former striker Marlon Harewood pre-match to issue a rallying cry. Both Nuno and captain Bowen did their own versions in the matchday programme. On the pitch, Crysencio Summerville did his very best to raise the volume with his mesmerising trickery.
Mistakes were to be expected or else West Ham wouldn’t be finding themselves in this straight survival shootout.
It was a tentative start for a West Ham side that was unchanged for the third straight game and when Mateus Fernandes was cheaply robbed of possession to allow Everton the chance to break in transition, many supporters did their very best to stifle the groans. Blind optimism, remember.
Tomas Soucek set West Ham on their way 10 minutes into the second half with a key header
But an impressive Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall equalised to send West Ham into the bottom three
Dewsbury-Hall scooped up possession, scampered into acres of space ahead of him only to see Dwight McNeil, who he played in, cross just behind Thierno Barry, who got all tangled up trying to improvise an acrobatic effort.
The sheer number of home supporters seen checking their phones throughout a tepid first half would often suggest a boring affair.
But events at Molineux was just as crucial to the atmosphere and permutations here as the actual match action being played out in front of us. Many found themselves on edge until news of any kind filtered through.
West Ham stuck at it, though, and got their rewards when Bowen’s pinpoint corner, one that came seconds after VAR waved away half-hearted appeals for a penalty on Taty Castellanos, was right on the money for Soucek to head in.
That felt like a footnote by the time this one was through 98 minutes and some change and the bubble machines were in full flow.
West Ham didn’t panic, got the win they so badly needed, and know survival is in their hands with four games to play.
