Twenty-eight games played, two won. The statistics for the Premier League’s bottom four clubs are unflattering. They are surprising, too, considering that West Ham United and Stoke City finished in the top 10 last season and that Swansea City had been regarded as the model of a well-run club. At least the habitual slow starters from Sunderland are in a familiar position. They travel to Stoke on Saturday in what might be deemed the first relegation six-pointer of the season but at least offers one the chance of a much-needed first victory. But there are common denominators in their difficulties.
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DEFENDING
West Ham have the division’s worst defensive record. The gambit of starting the season with winger Michail Antonio at right-back failed, and they have had particular problems in both full-back positions. They failed to heed the warnings from the end of last season, when they leaked goals at a rate of two per game. So did Stoke, who conceded four goals six times in the space of 11 league matches before tightening up in the last two matches. Their set-piece marking, after being penalised for grappling in the penalty box, has been dire. In other cases, it is not the number of goals conceded that is the issue as much as the timing: Swansea let in a late winner to Liverpool and a late equaliser to Chelsea. Sunderland have conceded two deciders and one equaliser after the 86th minute. Without those, they would have four more points.
SIGNINGS
Between them, the bottom four clubs signed 35 players this summer. So far, perhaps only three — Stoke’s Lee Grant and Joe Allen, plus Swansea’s Leroy Fer — rank as successes. While it is early days, and perhaps unfair to judge, that is a dismal ratio. Some have been injured, some are being eased in and some — Didier Ndong, Adnan Januzaj, Fernando Llorente — have offered encouraging signs. But others — Simone Zaza, Gokhan Tore, Wilfried Bony, Papy Djilobodji — have looked like let-downs. Collectively, their four employers could have benefited from more of an immediate impact from the newcomers.
INJURIES
A regular complaint although, given Premier League budgets, each should have had better cover. Stoke have struggled in Jack Butland’s absence. Sunderland have suffered without Yann Kirchhoff, Lee Cattermole and Fabio Borini at various points. Swansea have been without Federico Fernandez recently while record buy Borja Baston’s debut was delayed. West Ham have been hit hardest. Left-back Aaron Cresswell is yet to feature. The £20 million (Dh89.4m) signing Andre Ayew has only played 35 minutes this season. Dimitri Payet and Sofiane Feghouli have spent spells on the sidelines and they have been short of strikers, with Andy Carroll badly missed.
SALES
So far, departures have seemed particularly debilitating for Swansea. Neither Ayew nor Ashley Williams has been properly replaced. Sunderland have looked a lesser side without Younes Kaboul and Yann M’Vila, the borrowed midfielder they failed to sign. West Ham may wonder if they were wrong to let centre-back James Tomkins join Crystal Palace.
UNDERACHIEVERS
Gifted groups should still have done better. West Ham, where Mark Noble and Winston Reid have been below par, are a particular case in point. Stoke’s record signing Giannelli Imbula has lost his place in the side while captain Ryan Shawcross has struggled and Bojan Krkic has been dropped. Swansea’s mercurially brilliant winger Jefferson Montero is yet to earn a start. Lamine Kone hardly helped Sunderland with his attitude when trying to join Everton and, while he has stayed, he is yet to replicate the levels of performance he showed last season.
MANAGEMENT
Stoke’s Mark Hughes has spent too much time complaining about referees. West Ham’s Slaven Bilic’s decision-making has been erratic as he searches for his strongest side, with Antonio selected everywhere from full-back to centre forward. At Sunderland, David Moyes’s downbeat rhetoric has seemed like pessimism to locals who are bemused that he does not pick Wahbi Khazri more; in his defence, the Scot had little time to prepare for the start of the season after Sam Allardyce’s abrupt departure. Oddest of all are Swansea, who gave Francesco Guidolin a new contract and then set about undermining him. Now Bob Bradley is in charge, tasked with improving upon a run of one point from six games.
HOME FORM
Often the bread-and-butter for clubs, but they have one win in 15 home league games between them. It hardly helps that Swansea have hosted Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool while City and Tottenham have visited Stoke. But West Ham’s problems seem a cause of their new ground, the London Stadium, and they self-destructed in spectacular fashion to lose 4-2 to Watford before turning in a dismal display when Southampton beat them 3-0. Sunderland, meanwhile, reached October before getting their first point at home.
