West Ham odds: How will Hammers fare with Nuno at the helm?

On Saturday morning, West Ham finally pulled the trigger on Graham Potter’s ill-fated stint at the club. The timing could have been better – Potter will have taken training throughout the week and geared up for Monday’s game at Everton – yet the 50-year-old had been on borrowed time for weeks now.

To their credit, the Hammers acted swiftly to confirm his replacement. Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked as Nottingham Forest boss during the September international break but made a quick return to Premier League football as he agreed to succeed Potter in the capital.

He’ll have to get to grips with the playing squad quickly, and he doesn’t have the luxury of a full pre-season to have worked with West Ham, but as Premier League fans can attest; Nuno’s an experienced pragmatic manager who’ll shore up one of the leakiest defences in the league.

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Everton vs West Ham odds

Nuno has a tough start to life as West Ham boss as he takes his side to the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday night. Saying that, the Hammers do have a good record at Everton, having lost only one of their last five games at the Toffees, winning three times in that period.

Conversely, the 51-year-old has lost four of his last five games against Everton, doing so twice with Wolves and twice as Forest boss. If you are fancying the Hammers to get a bit of ‘new manager bounce’, then West Ham are at a best price of 9/2 with Betfred to secure all the spoils on Monday night.

Everton to secure victory is at 8/11 with AKBets while a draw can be found at 29/10 on SpreadEx.

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West Ham relegation odds

Looking at the bigger picture, Nuno’s immediate task will be to steer West Ham away from danger. Ahead of their Monday night game on Merseyside, the east London side sit 19th, having claimed just three points, all of which incidentally came against Nuno’s Forest last month, his final game at the City Ground helm.

Beefing up the backline is of paramount importance, and is expected to be Nuno’s first port of call. No team has conceded more goals than West Ham (13) in England’s top tier this term, but the Portuguese boss has the players at his disposal to make the team one of the hardest to break down, just as he did with Forest.

As things stand, West Ham are the third favourites at 13/8 with AKBets to be relegated from the Premier League this season behind Burnley (4/11 – BetVictor) and Wolves (4/6 – AKBets). Nuno, though, expertly guided Forest away from danger and into Europe, so this should be bread and butter for the new West Ham gaffer.

West Ham top half finish odds

Having taken over as Forest boss midway through the 2023/24 season, Nuno had enough time to guide the Tricky Trees to safety. In fact, 22 points during his time in charge would have had Forest in 14th, and having finished just seven points off Bournemouth in 10th over the same period; that figure would have been higher had the Midlands side replaced Steve Cooper with Nuno sooner.

With 33 games to play, West Ham still have plenty of time to pull away from danger. Victory over Everton on Monday night would be a huge boost to their survival hopes, and increase their chances of finishing in the top half of the table, which would have been unlikely under Potter. Given Nuno’s experience, combined with the solidity of the teams he oversees, that shouldn’t be completely out of the question.

At the time of writing, West Ham are at 9/1 with Ladbrokes to secure a top-half finish, but those will surely shorten should they claim a result at Everton on Monday night.