Nine West Ham players advance as one leads the way for the Hammers

Alphonse Areola is the best performer this season among nine West Ham United players.

After the Irons sold their captain and talisman Declan Rice, few could have guessed that West Ham United would have such a strong start to the season before a ball was kicked.

Many questioned how the Irons would do without the England international midfielder after he left for Arsenal, but David Moyes has ensured that the Hammers have begun the season superbly both locally and internationally by bringing in James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez.

But West Ham’s fortunes haven’t simply changed since moving to the London Stadium; the entire team is now operating at a much higher level than they ever did in the 2022–23 season, which has once again put them in the mix for the European berths.

Alphonse Areola leads the way with a 7.15 rating this season, an improvement of 0.84, according to WhoScored (7 October), nine players in Moyes’ team had a greater average rating after seven Premier League games this season compared to last year.

The next player, Ward Prowse, is presently rated the highest overall at the London Stadium with a 7.69, an increase of 0.73 from his final season with Southampton, who were just relegated.

The final nine people on the list were previously on Moyes’ roster for the previous year. Players like Jarrod Bowen, Emerson, Tomas Soucek, and Michail Antonio fared better as the Hammers appeared to have made significant strides on the field over the summer.

Some claim that this improvement proves West Ham are a better team without Rice in the middle of the field. Individual players may appear to be doing well this season, but that could simply be the result of the team playing with more balance overall.

Rice was given a 7.01 rating in the Premier League last season by WhoScored, which still places him as one of the top players in the current Hammers lineup despite playing for a struggling team for the majority of the season as Moyes’ team finished 14th.

Since the Irons aren’t as strong in the middle of the park anymore, other players have had to step up, which has improved everyone’s play both individually and as a team. In other words, Rice may not have been a great player to begin with, but the Hammers may be a better team for not having him.

Even though Moyes improved the players who were already in his team when he started, he also deserves praise for the acquisitions he made this summer. He is frequently criticized for adopting a defensive style of play, yet these statistics demonstrate that players throughout the field can succeed under his leadership.

Who knows where the Irons could end if this kind of growth can continue over the rest of the season.