West Ham United Detailed Season Preview: Insights and Predictions

Where Did West Ham Finish Last Season?

🆕 training threads 🧵 pic.twitter.com/esYmy0HAMG

— West Ham United (@WestHam) July 7, 2025

West Ham were exceptionally poor last season - Julien Lopetegui lasted just five months before being sent on his way, and his replacement Graham Potter didn’t fare much better. In truth they were fortunate to finish as high as 14th - had Manchester United and Tottenham performed marginally better, West Ham would have been hovering dangerously close to the drop zone at the end of the season.

The problems stemmed from last season’s recruitment - Niclas Fullkrug failed to have any impact up top, Crysencio Summerville failed to bring his outstanding form from the Championship to the Premier League, and while centre back signings Jean-Clair Todibo and Mix Kilman were solid, they still shipped 62 Premier League goals, the third worst total outside the bottom three. The signing of Aaron Wan-Bissaka was the only true success - he netted twice (his first goals since 2021) and notched five assists as he played all but two league fixtures - but it is clear that West Ham’s recruitment strategy needs a rethink this summer.

There is plenty of talent throughout the West Ham squad, and in Graham Potter, the club has a very able manager who is more than capable of putting the jigsaw pieces together. The issue is that the puzzle pieces appear six-sided at the moment; if Potter can make a success of his first pre-season at the club, these pieces should start to take a more simplified shape.

Best Result: West Ham United 4-1 Ipswich Town (Antonio 1’, Kudus 43’, Bowen 49’, Paqueta 60’; Delap 6’)

Worst Result: West Ham United 0-5 Liverpool (Diaz 30’, Gakpo 40’, Salah 44’, Alexander-Arnold 54’, Jota 84’)

Who Have West Ham Signed in the Summer Transfer Window So Far?

Mateus Fernandes from Southampton - £38 Million + £3 Million Add Ons

Jean-Clair Todibo - Loan made permanent for £34.5 Million

El Hadji Malick Diouf from Slavia Prague - £19 Million

Mads Hermansen from Leicester City - £18 Million

Soungoutou Magassa from AS Monaco - £17.3 Million

Kyle Walker-Peters from Southampton - Free Transfer

Callum Wilson from Newcastle - Free Transfer

Igor Julio from Brighton - Season long loan with Option to Buy

Total Spent: £126.8 Million + £3 Million in Potential Add Ons

Who Have West Ham United Sold in the Summer Transfer Window So Far?

Mohammed Kudus to Tottenham - £55 Million

🚨⚪️ BREAKING: Mohammed Kudus to Tottenham, here we go! Deal in place for £55m from West Ham.

Kudus only wanted #THFC and he will now sign 6 year contract at Tottenham.

Medical tests booked for Kudus in London on Thursday then all signed, as @David_Ornstein reports. pic.twitter.com/htBP3bOCg0

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 9, 2025

Nayef Aguerd to Olympique Marseille - £17 Million

Emerson Palmieri to Olympique Marseille - £1 Million

Patrick Kelly to Barnsley - Free Transfer

Edson Alvarez to Fenerbahce - Season long loan with Option to Buy

Lewis Orford to Stevenage - Season long loan

Gideon Kodua to Luton Town - Season long loan

Michale Forbes to Northampton Town - Season long loan

Kaelan Casey to Swansea City - Season long loan

Kurt Zouma - Released

Danny Ings - Released

Vladimir Coufal - Released

Lukasz Fabianski - Released

Aaron Cresswell - Released

Michail Antonio - Released

Evan Ferguson to Brighton - End of Loan

Carlos Soler to PSG - End of Loan

Total Received: £73 Million

West Ham United 2025/26 Squad List

Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola, Mads Hermansen, Wes Foderingham.

Defenders: Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Malick Diouf, Igor Julio, Jean-Clair Todibo, Nayef Aguerd, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Max Kilman, Kaelen Casey, Kyle Walker-Peters.

Midfielders: James Ward-Prowse, Tomas Soucek, Mateus Fernandes, Soungoutou Magassa, Guido Rodriguez, Lucas Paqueta, Mohamadou Kante, Luis Guilherme, Andy Irving.

Attackers: Maxwel Cornet, Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Fullkrug, Callum Wilson, George Earthy, Callum Marshall.

West Ham United 2025/26 Home, Away and Third Kits

West Ham 2025/26 Home Kit pic.twitter.com/DwPd7MmtF1

— West Ham Football (@westhamfootball) July 3, 2025

The 2025/26 away kit, modelled by Crysencio Summerville.

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/vYvW1XS3Yr

— From The Anvil - West Ham United ⚒ (@FromTheAnvilWHU) July 17, 2025

OFFICIAL | West Ham have released their third kit for the 25/26 season 👕

SOURCE | @WestHam pic.twitter.com/Jtvv3gCElu

— West Ham Really (@TheWestHamNews1) July 30, 2025

What is West Ham United’s Opening Premier League Fixture?

Sunderland vs West Ham United | Stadium of Light, Sunderland | Saturday, August 16th, 15:00

How Can I Watch Sunderland vs West Ham United?

As of the time of writing, West Ham’s opening fixture of the season is not scheduled to be shown on Sky Sports or TNT Sports. However, other broadcasters will be screening the match, such as Supersport.

What Are West Ham United’s First Five Games?

Sunderland vs West Ham United - Saturday, August 16th.

West Ham United vs Chelsea - Friday, August 22nd.

Nottingham Forest vs West Ham United - Sunday, August 31st.

West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur - Saturday, September 13th.

West Ham United vs Crystal Palace - Saturday, September 20th.

When Do West Ham United Play Rivals Chelsea in 2025/26?

One of three London derbies in their first five games, West Ham have clocked some excellent results against the American backed Blues’ ensuring that this season's meetings will have no shortage of needle.

West Ham United vs Chelsea - Friday, August 22nd.

Chelsea vs West Ham United - TBC.

Recent Meetings:

• 03/02/2025: Chelsea 2-1 West Ham United.
• 21/09/2024: West Ham United 0-3 Chelsea.
• 05/05/2024: Chelsea 5-0 West Ham United.
• 20/08/2023: West Ham United 3-1 Chelsea.
• 11/02/2023: West Ham United 1-1 Chelsea.

Who is West Ham’s Manager for 2025/26?

"It seems that wherever you go in the world, there are West Ham fans. Whenever you're on holiday, you bump into West Ham fans, there's always somebody in the street giving the ‘Irons’ and stuff, so we can be proud of that, for sure."

– Graham Potter pic.twitter.com/1Hk0rKls4E

— Central (@WestHam_Central) July 23, 2025

It is the first time since 2022 that Graham Potter has found himself in charge of a club. After his short but disastrous spell at Chelsea, the highly rated English coach saw his stocks plummet, and as a result, he steered clear of management for the best part of two years. This was partially a move he made in order to get away from all the criticism and pressure he had come under in his last months at Chelsea, but it may also have been in hope that people would forget about his failings when he eventually came back.

His start at West Ham was anything but spectacular - his first league game saw the Hammers edge to a 3-2 victory over Fulham, but he would have to wait another five games before his next three point haul. A winless streak of eight games from early March to early May would not have helped his confidence, but he coached two wins in the last three games of the season to ensure the club went out on something of a high. While their safety was never in danger, thanks to the dire form of the three promoted sides, Potter will know that things could become much less comfortable if Sunderland, Burnley and Leeds United show any ounce of Premier League know-how.

Every English football fan knows what Potter is capable of - his Brighton side of 2021/22 were arguably one of the most talented non-top six sides of the last decade or so, studded with fantastic players and built upon solid team cohesion. With Potter in charge at West Ham, there is no doubt that their recruitment strategy will change tack, and if they can land the player’s touted by their coach, they could find themselves back in the upper mid-table mix.

Who is West Ham United’s Player to Watch?

Jarrod Bowen

How Jarrod Bowen is still at West Ham, many of us will never know. With 65 goals and 36 assists in his last four seasons in East London, the Englishman appears the perfect player to provide an alternative attacking option at the likes of Arsenal or Manchester City, and yet he finds himself sitting stubbornly in the bottom half of the table in claret and blue.

No player ended the season in better form than Jarrod Bowen 🔥

The only side he failed to return against in the last 8 Gameweeks were the league champions 🙌#FPL pic.twitter.com/WsKCLSK6YL

— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) May 27, 2025

Bowen has been a revelation at West Ham since his move from Hull City five and a half years ago - he is never afraid to take on his man, and he has excellent positional awareness - but it is his finishing that marks him out as one of the Premier Leagues top forwards. Just one glance at his catalogue of West Ham goals tells you all you need to know: this man knows how to find the net, and very few things will get in his way while he is in search of it. 13 goals and eight assists in the Premier League alone only saw his value spike, and if any side wants to acquire his services now, they will need to pay upwards of £50 Million.

Having now broken into the England set-up, being used regularly as an impact substitute under both Gareth Southgate and now under Thomas Tuchel, the only thing missing from Bowen’s CV is a decent haul of trophies, something which his talent richly deserves. Sure, he has won the Conference League while at West Ham, but that looks to be as high as they will go in his time there - his eyes must surely now be flickering elsewhere.

West Ham United 2025/26 Season Prediction

If Hammer's fans expected me to eat my so far pretty damning words at the start of the season, they can only have their team to blame for the fact that I am predicting their side to find themselves in the thick of a relegation battle. A 3-0 loss to newly promoted Sunderland on the opening day was bad enough, but to respond with a 5-1 thrashing at home to Chelsea saw a mass exodus of fans from the London stadium before the game had reached the hour mark.

It is clear that, after last seasons struggles, lack of quality, and inability to sign the right players, Hammers fans are somewhat disillusioned with their club, and rightly so. They have showed no fighting spirit whatsoever in the opening two games of the season, and save for Lucas Paqueta's early screamer before they crumbled against Chelsea, there has been precious little to enjoy for the Claret and Blue's. Their midfield in particular was beyong poor, after 45 minutes, the trio of Ward-Prowse, Soucek and Paqueta virtually ceased to exist, allowing Chelsea to attack at their leisure.

While they won't come against sides of Chelsea's quality every week, this midfield issue cannot persist, and with less than a week of the transfer window left, Graham Potter is running out of time to bring in the right personnel that could potentially improve things. After last seasons showing, expectations for West Ham were already low, and with just two games gone, there has been little cause for optimism. Their quality of individual player should just about carry them to survival, but they cannot continue like this.

Football Park's Prediction: 17th