There is not a lot to say about the rest of this season other than we do have something to aim for and that is getting 12 points, once that is achieved we can sit back and relax.

There are some who now we are relegated, talk about preparing for next season by dropping those who will not be with us in the Championship, personally I don't see any point in this, at least not until those 12 points have been reached.

It is bad enough as it is, so to play the final games without Aaron Ramsdale, Kyle Walker-Peters, Mateus Fernandes, Tyler Dibling and perhaps even Taylor Harwood- Bellis would make a poor team even worse and make the agony of watching them an even worse ordeal than it has been for the last 8 months or so, is anyone seriously suggesting dropping Aaron Ramsdale for Alex McCarthy !!!

The problem last Saturday was exposed for all to see, you couldn't really argue much with the team selection, 1 or 2 players perhaps aside, but the fact is we are toothless up front, what other side would send out their top scorer on loan when we are still fighting to stay up, as we did with Adam Armstrong, that was perhaps the legacy that Ivan Juric left us, a squad with it's spirit taken away.

You couldn't say that the team that played Villa lacked spirit, but they did lack class and we paid dearly after 70 minute spell in which we had no outlet going forward.

I therefore don't expect Simon Rusk to make many changes for the game against the Hammers but I would like to see either Armel Bella=Kotchap or Nathan Wood come in for Jack Stephens & Tyler Dibling replace Tall Paul Onuauchu & finally perhaps Flynn Downes also back in, perhaps for Sulemana..

Rusk needs to get the right balance and that means bringing back Adam Lallana and Charlie Taylor to the bench, against Vila the bench included two right backs and two central defenders, that was quite puzzling.

The problem was once we brought on fresh legs, not for the first time this season we went to pot.

Having said all this, this is one of the games we should targeting to pick up a point of three , West Ham start the day 4th from bottom after a shocking run of form since Xmas, since they beat us on Boxing Day, they have won just 3 games in the Premier League , drawn 3 and lost 8 out of 14 games.

That is not much better than us and that gives us hope that perhaps with the crowd a little restless at how their season has petered out, that we could just catch them on a bad day.

But they are a hard side to beat, most of their defeats have been by the odd goa, including last week at Anfield were they equalised late on and then conceded the winner to Liverpool just minutes later.

So we can go up the London Stadium with at least some hope that we could sneak something.

However if we are to do so, we need a good strong solid performance that harks back to Simon Rusk's first away game in charge when he took the team for the trip to Fulham and he set out a solid side that fully deserved a point.

A point would be good enough to equal Derby's unwanted record and that would be a step forward.

This season isn't over yet, we need to hit that 12 point mark before we start to look till next season, even if it is only for pride than nothing else, but till we do that, lets forget about giving youngsters a chance etc and utilise the experience we have in the squad and play our best side.

All Photos Via Reuters

UgandaSaint added 17:39 - Apr 18 Nick, I agree it would be wrong to make wholesale changes until Saints pass Derby's record, but we could use 1 or 2 youngsters such as Robinson. Rusk thought Stephens gave a Captain's performance so is unlikely to be dropped, after all he was only at fault for the second goal and the second penalty. As for letting 2 goal Armstrong go out on loan, he was a liability, his first touch is abysmal and his main ploy was running past the defender in the hope that he would make a mistake, something PL defenders don't do that often. Even with him, Saints would still be toothless up front.

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saintmark1976 added 18:18 - Apr 18 Yep, Adam Armstrong who couldn’t even get a start today with West Brom who effectively ended their playoffs chances with a 2-0 defeat at Coventry.
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Colburn added 07:01 - Apr 19 Of course you would drop the captain, despite us being more solid with him on the pitch.. the problem, as you say is our lack of potency up front and this is due to recruitment. Armstrong is never going to be good enough for the Prem and now the Championship is passing him by as he doesn’t even start for W Brom! Scored 1 penalty since Jan? Same with Diaz, was on the bench yesterday.. clueless recruitment has got us where we are today and we missed the red flags, blinded by the Wembley success in the playoffs.

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underweststand added 09:08 - Apr 19 (to Colburn (above) seemingly Brereton Diaz has lost his early success, but he came on in the final quarter and secured the game with a late goal for the Blades, who made hard work of a match against struggling Cardiff.) BUT as this thread is about the WHam game. Always an interesting fixture, and we've had our share of good / surprise results over the years, although the Hammers have often stolen the game with a late goal. It will be unusual to see us playing AGAINST Prowsey, but hopefully can edge past that "hoodoo points Prem. tally " we have been longing for.

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FrankSaint added 11:30 - Apr 19 Watching Armstrong try to attack Prem defences was like watching a child playing in a men's Sunday League. It was painful to watch. He could only redeem himself by chasing back to defend valiantly. But, this also meant when opponents attacked they could over load us because there was no one for them to mark. We did him a favour putting him out of his misery.
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SanMarco added 12:41 - Apr 19 Somehow grab a goal and hope that we only concede 1. Yes - highly unlikely but let's face it points are always highly unlikely this season...
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