Torn between despondency owing to the  team’s perilous position and woeful performances, yet still wanting to find some kind of optimistic outcome, its a tough time to be a West Ham fan just now.

Supporting ‘the protest’ seems essential yet possibly an act of self-harm as the team struggle to put in a decent performance, Irons fans don’t know whether to dread each new game or look forward toward an upturn in the side’s fortunes.

With a manager seemingly ‘feeling his way’ through the dark with no settled starting eleven, and the club sat in nineteenth position, surely..the only way is up?

You’d hope.

One whose glass is most definitely half full is twenty-one year old u21 International Mateus Fernandes.The Portuguese midfielder could feel entitled to be a tad frustrated that Nuno didn’t select select him to start in either of the last two defeats, but despite this, his words are all very measured.

West Ham already have a ‘relegation veteran’ ready for the fight

A relegation veteran – who has just gone through a season of doom at Southampton, the guy knows a thing or two about a bottom-table scrap. His experience of a season-long fight could well...