West Ham United Season Preview 2025-26: Graham Potter under pressure to deliver as Lucas Paqueta cloud lifts

This year's West Ham United season preview makes for interesting reading for those with a soft spot for the East London club

FourFourTwo's West Ham United Season Preview

FFT's View

The Plan

Let’s try that again. Challenged to give West Ham fans something new, Julen Lopetegui certainly delivered as he spent huge sums in making the team older, slower and worse in both boxes, filling the London Stadium with palpable ennui.

Graham Potter and the Hammers’ new recruitment guru Kyle Macaulay must somehow refresh a squad in dire need of mobility while trying to convince co-owner David Sullivan to adopt a coherent transfer policy, all without the £33m that went on the obligation to make Jean-Clair Todibo’s loan permanent upon staying up. For a club that needs to sell to buy, they have had few assets remaining to cash in on.

The Coach

The Graham Potter era is yet to convince, and a continuation of poor late-season form would put the 50-year-old under immediate pressure. Erudite and organised, he may not have the players to implement his style at a club who tend to use agents to do their scouting.

Key Player

Jarrod Bowen is so vital (only Mo Salah scored a higher share of their team’s goals) that the club have made him captain, tied him to a long contract and married him off to a prominent West Ham family. FourFourTwo ranked him at no.26 in our list of the best Premier League players of the season for 2024-25. Life without him is Southampton, only without the attacking threat.

Lesson From Last Year

This time last year, plenty of fans declared themselves bored of David Moyes, his top-10 finishes and European runs. So, in came Lopetegui, only for the Spaniard’s possession-heavy style to anchor the Irons in the bottom half, with no post-Potter kickback.

Supporters have watched Nottingham Forest’s counter-attacking success and Everton’s resurgence and seen that for clubs without petrochemical state backing or the Champions League’s ethereal wealth, the way to compete is the Moyes blueprint. The club are also into year four or five of needing to replace Michail Antonio; Niclas Fullkrug’s finest contribution in 2024-25 was to call his team-mates “sh*t” live on air.

The Mood

Pensive. The second half of last term was so stultifying that many Hammers pined for the pandemic season’s enforced non-attendance. Will the board appoint a suitable replacement if the malaise carries on? On the plus side, Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s first season brought a league-high 66 interceptions, a telepathic understanding with Bowen on the right flank, and the Hammer of the Year award.

The One To Watch

Ollie Scarles, 19. A viable option in the Potter system, he displaced Emerson as left-wing-back.

Most Likely To...

Resemble a garden slug, because the Irons had about as much backbone last season. Apart from Ipswich and Southampton, they were the only side not to record a come-from-behind win. April’s operatic tragedy at Brighton – 2-1 up with two minutes to go, only to lose 3-2 – was even more indicative of a worrying lack of spine.

Least Likely To...

Return to East London: Evan Ferguson, whose loan spell made Simone Zaza look like Geoff Hurst – 152 minutes, no goals or assists.

FFT Verdict

15TH West Ham can’t go on like this, but Potter’s adaptability should enable them to tread water a little longer.

The Number Cruncher

The Fan View

We asked James Longman what's to come at the London Stadium this season. Here's what he said...

Last season was another chapter in our apathy era.

I won’t be happy unless we see some kind of progress from the West Ham groundhog day.

Our key player will be Jarrod Bowen, predictably – our only chink of light.

Our most underrated player is Tomas Soucek. He works hard, he bags winners and he loves potato salad.

The opposition player who grinds my gears is James Maddison, because he plays for Spurs and has a Spurs kind of face.

The one change I’d make would be for the old vendors in the walk-up to Upton Park to return with their West Ham badges, scarves, knock-off merchandise, inflatable hammers, the smell of hot dog and burger stalls... all part of my West Ham.

A social media account to follow is KUMB.com and my old pal, club announcer @cjscull.

I’m most looking forward to visiting Sunderland – I used to go to uni there. I wonder if you can still get a 16in pizza for £2...

I’m least looking forward to playing City – they just walk through us, even when they’re rubbish.

The pantomime villain will be Mikel Arteta and his David Brent vibes.

Fans think our gaffer is under pressure. Potter has inherited an ageing, disjointed mess and he needs time, but football and fans are unforgiving.

If he left, he should be replaced by our keepy-uppy Guinness World Record holder mascot, Hammerhead.

We’ll finish 10th.

This preview originally appeared in FourFourTwo's Season Preview issue which went on sale in July, available here with free delivery