This data analysis will help us to understand why West Ham are having a great season thus far, sitting in fifth place in the Premier League table, above the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal.
To be able to determine why David Moyes team is enjoying a successful campaign we will compare West Ham to the other Premier League teams through data. West Hams players will be compared to the rest of the Premier League players as well. Player comparisons will only include players with a minimum of 600 minutes played this season, with all data coming from Wyscout.
Formations used and expected goals model
West Ham started the season playing in a 5-4-1 formation and in 11 matches they managed to collect 17 points with five wins and two draws. The image below shows their most-used lineup in those 11 matches.
This is the third season in a row for Łukasz Fabiański as the first-choice goalkeeper for the Hammers, while the trio in front of him was usually Fabián Balbuena, Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell. Cresswell managed to show some impressive performances in an unfamiliar position on the left of a back three, and he has played a similar role to that of Cesar Azpilicueta in Antonio Conte’s tactics during Chelseas title-winning 2016/17 season. Moyes also wanted to use Arthur Masuaku who was in good form at left wing-back, and on the other side Ryan Fredericks started a few matches, but after an injury, Vladimir Coufal, who arrived from Slavia Prague in the summer, took his spot and never let it go. Two indispensable players in this team are Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice who have both played every minute so far in this Premier League campaign. Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen were the wingers behind Michail Antonio and Sebastian Haller.
The turning point for West Hams season came when they were forced to change their shape to a 4-2-3-1 due to a serious knee injury to Masuaku. West Ham also brought Jesse Lingard in on loan from Manchester United in the January window, when Robert Snodgrass and Sebastien Haller left the London Stadium.
