West Ham have every right to aim for a cup this season with a new medical team in place to combat injury-prone stars
With a few new signings and the continued nurturing of our youngsters, it's an exciting time to be a Hammers fan
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AT the moment it is hard to gauge the reaction of West Ham's fans coming into the new season.
There seems to be a divide between those that are buzzing from the recent signings and those that feel we could do with a couple more.
I think we will still sign a few new players right up to deadline day and this will give us a much stronger squad than we had last year.
Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez bring proven Premier League quality to positions that we have been lacking in recent seasons.
And Sead Haksabanovic, at just 18, brings a raw and exciting creative addition to the team.
With these signings we are in a much stronger position than we were last year!
We certainly need to add one more forward as Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll cannot be relied on to keep fit for much of the season.
A new striker will give us good squad depth - with a loan move perhaps a good idea.
West Ham transfer news
One of our best players in pre-season has been talented Irish youngster Declan Rice and I believe him, Domingos Quina and Toni Martinez could also give some selection dilemmas this season too which they were too young to do last year.
I think we will be better off for having had a season at the London Stadium now and I hope our form improves there, although we won't find this out until our first home game in mid-September.
I would be very disappointed if we didn't add a couple more players, but with additions in place I see no reason why we cannot challenge to be in the top ten.
Ideally an eighth-placed finish with an exciting cup run will be the story of our season and I would take this for now!
Slaven Bilic has an important season ahead of him.
He has to prove now he is capable of moving the club forward and being our long-term manager - and I think this will all be clear by October.
We have brought in a new medical team under the leadership of Gary Lewin, the former Arsenal and England employee, and his success will also be a determining factor to our season.
Manuel Lanzini will be our most important player - should we hold onto him - and Michail Antonio, Arnautovic and Hernandez should all benefit from this creativity!
So here's to at least a top-ten finish and a good cup run to keep us Hammers happy - COYI!
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