Think of all the bollocks that West Ham have dealt with this campaign, most of it self-induced. A new stadium, an embarrassing European exit, selling their best player, lots of injuries, dodgy transfer returns, Premier League slumps, various formations, no right back, goalkeeping switcharoos, managerial pressure… and then they go and beat Spurs to pretty much end the title race for their London rivals. At the expense of allowing another London rival to eventually claim it, but still.

The rumour was that if Slaven Bilic couldn’t get a result from his last two home games then his job would be on the line. That was a little crazy, if they were gonna sack him this season then it shoulda happened two months ago. Stay firm with him then and you’ve gotta keep him on into the next season, especially since they’re playing for next to nothing at the moment anyway. Relegation threats have been seen off, it’s all just jostling for meaningless position in the mid-table now.

But it didn’t matter anyway, West Ham came out and played a fine game, ending Tottenham’s nine game unbeaten streak in the League and ensuring a third straight clean sheet of their own in the process. Not too shabby there from a team that’s had several defensive struggles this season. Jose Fonte (2016 European Championship winner with Portugal, remember) was supposed to fix that when they signed him in January but it took him until his tenth game to experience a clean sheet. He’s now had four in five games since.

Defensively the trick was a shift to a three-man defence. Winston Reid had been out injured and Fonte and James Collins filled in pretty well, keeping Swansea out in that 1-0 win for that first rare doughnut in the oppo column. Reid returned and Bilic was left with a decision over who to drop. Instead he figured, eh, let’s play all three, and WHU lined up in a 3-4-1-2 shape against Everton. That three-man defence is something that Bilic has flirted with in the past to some success, usually against better teams, though he has the tendency to find a formation that works, play it until it doesn’t work, then abandon it until he finds something else that works.

We’re currently in the working stage because Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, who had scored in nine consecutive games against the Hammers, was kept to a single off-target shot in a 0-0 draw that game. Then Stoke were shut out in another 0-0 draw. After that came Spurs and while 1-0 makes for fine margins, this was a deserved win for Bilic, Reid, Fonte and the rest.

When West Ham have played three CBs in the past, it’s usually been a midfielder like Cheikhou Kouyate to drop into the defensive line. Against Spurs, Kouyate was unleashed in the centre of the park and he was one of the best players on the park, shutting down the likes of Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen while also bringing the physicality needed to match the usually dominating Victor Wanyama. This is far from a strong West Ham side and there’s no more blatant weakness than the overmatched Jonathan Calleri at striker but Manuel Lanzini has probably been the club’s best player all season, helping cover the loss of Dimitri Payet, and there’s plenty more to come from Andre Ayew and Robert Snodgrass too – one having been affected by injuries all year, the other a January transfer who’s yet to get a sustained run in the team.

Elsewhere their fullbacks have been a problem. They have no proper right back contender while left back Aaron Cresswell has fallen off the radar with injuries, having ended last season as a fringe England contender. He’ll be back., Cresswell is equally impressive going forward so he has no worries playing as a wing-back in this system while Sam Byram has done okay at RWB lately. He’s a young fella bought from Leeds last season with some potential and, hey, it’s better than wasting Michail Antonio (currently injured) there. Meanwhile captain Mark Noble has been in and out of the team lately and Adrian, the keeper, has only recently won the starting gig back from Darren Randolph.

Prior to this five-game unbeaten streak, the Hammers had lost five in a row. They’ve had three separate winless streaks of at least five games and began the season with only four points from their first seven games, three wins from their first 15 matches. They famously knocked Chelsea out of the League Cup in October but were smashed 4-1 in the next round by Man United. A month later they were eliminated in the FA Cup’s third round with a 5-0 defeat at home to Man City. Romanian side Astra Giurgiu put them out of Europa League qualifying, beating them at home 1-0. Yeah, this has been a bad season. But perhaps not as bad as it looked.

The narrative among fans is that their home form has been the worry. No doubt there have been issues with moving from the cozy confines of Upton Park to the vast structures of London Stadium. Especially when they had such a fantastic season at home last time out, most famously with that win over Man Utd in the final game at the Boleyn. At London Stadium, the pitch is much further from the stands and the atmosphere can be a little hollow. It’s a stadium for Olympians and the Hammers don’t quite have the prestige of players to pull that off, definitely not when Dimitri Payet is being flipped for cents on the dollar.

That’s a realistic problem and one that Spurs felt too when they played Champions League games at Wembley compared to Premier League games at White Hart Lane (where they remain unbeaten this season). However all up, the Hammers played 23 games at London Stadium (with one PL game vs Liverpool to follow) and it’s not that ugly. In fact it’s a damn sight better than their away form.

• West Ham at London Stadium: 10 W | 4 D | 9 L | 25 GF | 34 GA | -9 GD
• West Ham away from London Stadium: 4 W | 6 D | 11 L | 29 GF | 39 GA | -10 GD

There were some heavy home defeats in there which blow out the goal difference but apart from a 4-2 defeat to Watford (in which they led 2-0), they were all against much better teams. Losing 5-0 and 4-0 to Man City, 5-1 to Arsenal, 3-0 to Southampton (okay, that one’s a little debatable). Similarly, in those 23 home games the only teams to keep them scoreless have been: Astra Giurgiu (where they definitely rested a few too many first XI chaps), Southampton, Man United, Man City (twice) and Everton. Rather than saying they’re bad because of a poor home record, it’s more like they have a poor home record because they’re bad.

But again, not that bad. The relegation zone was never more than, at worst, a couple more bad results away. They always had that room to breathe. It’s just that expectations were heightened after finishing in the European spots last time but, while other teams below them had hugely improved (Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton…), West Ham had gotten plenty worse. As usual, you can blame it on transfers.

Last season West Ham finished seventh with 62 points, challenging for the Champions League places for a good stretch of the campaign and making a run to the FA Cup quarters as well. Their best cup run since making the final in 2005-06 and their best Premier League finish since coming fifth in 1998-99 (there was another seventh in 2001-02) and their best points total in the Premier League era. That’s one helluva season. Their signings in there? Dimitri Payet, Angelo Ogbonna, Michail Antonio, Pedro Obiang, Sam Byram, Darren Randolph, plus a couple duds. Victor Moses and Manuel Lanzini joined on loans, Lanzini with an option to buy that they’d eventually take up.

That’s plenty of quality being added to the squad, no doubt about it. And that’s exactly what you want from a year of transfers. Depth in every position and players you can rely upon. Byram didn’t have a huge chance to make an impact after coming in during January and Randolph was largely second choice until this season, while Moses only scored one goal in his time there. But they all competed for places and positions. As for Obiang, Ogbonna and Lanzini, they did plenty more than just compete. Antonio scored eight PL goals his first season and has added nine more this season while Payet… well he was simply spectacular.

This season they sold James Tomkins and sent Enner Valencia away on loan. In came Andre Ayew for a record fee and he only lasted 35 minutes on debut before he was carted off injured to miss two months. Lately he’s begun to make things happen with five Premier League goals but only lately. Like a bunch of guys, he’ll come good in the long term. Ashley Fletcher is an impressive striking prospect they picked up for free, Havard Nordtveit can play too (despite a couple clangers). Edmilson Fernandes is only 21 and looks a solid midfielder. They’ve signed some really good players… but we’re talking about this season and those lads aren’t ready to win them games right now.

Simone Zaza was supposed to be. Signed on loan with a view to a permanent from Juventus, he was nothing but a disaster with no goals in 461 minutes before they cancelled the loan completely. Arthur Masuaku has subbed in for Aaron Creswell decently, early on in particular, but he’s second choice when both are fit. Jonathan Calleri has one Premier League goal in 482 minutes. Gokhan Tore and Sofiane Feghouli have failed to make a positive impression at all. Technically Lanzini counts as a 16-17 transfer but that one was already in ink a year earlier. Alvaro Arbeloa came in on a free to zero effect. It’s a barren wasteland out there, no wonder they’ve regressed.

Especially after the Dimitri Payet stuff. The Frenchman was a standout at the Euros and was clearly ready for bigger and better things. West Ham were clearly failing to provide them. But more drastically his family was struggling to settle in London and his wife and kids had moved back to Marseille. So he decided he wanted to follow them and then we had that whole standoff thing and he was stood down. The rest of the squad rallied without him and the Hammers figured they could do better with more committed players anyway.

They might have overestimated things there, Payet left for Marseille back in January and he’s still got double the Premier League assists of the next best fella in this team. Robert Snodgrass was signed from Hull to ease the post-Payet hangover but he’s yet to consistently force his way into the starting XI. Players signed mid-season often don’t. Jose Fonte sure took his time figuring things out too.

Hence why West Ham have been up and down. They sold their best player and didn’t replace him. They stutter through the whims of a passionate but inexperienced manager. They struck out more than they made contact with in their transfer doings. Key players like Andy Carroll, Winston Reid, Michail Antonio and Andre Ayew have all missed extended periods with injuries and they don’t have a lot of cover, what with the crap transfer business and all. And amidst everything there’s been some kind of psychic curse on their new stadium… either that or they’re doing the usual thing and taking a little while to adjust to playing in new conditions.

It’s made for some turbulent times, crowd trouble and logistical dramas at London Stadium not helping at all, but most of those things have been well dealt with by the club. Keeping Slaven Bilic is a wise decision as well, he’s had a lot more success than he has failure in his two seasons there and the fewer disruptions at this point in their history the better. Suffering a reverting season wouldn’t have been in the plans but with a bit of perspective it’s not that shocking, they were overly reliant on Payet last time out and they sold him. What else did you expect?

But that win against Spurs could prove a real turning point. For the first time ever, other than a few hints in the EFL Cup win over Chelsea, there was a real, legit, vibrant feeling within the London Stadium. The team played great and earned a wonderful win against a title contender. Their record signing set up the winning goal and their new star defender was flawless besides their existing star defenders. All those things that have gone wrong this season, reflected in the opposite beneath the floodlights on a rare Friday night kickoff. Yeah, it’s been a funny old season.

We reckon if you asked Winston Reid, he’d tell you to whack an ad of your choice within this page in recognition of the fine work (praise withstanding) that TNC do…