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When West Ham appointed David Moyes to preserve their Premier League status they were doing so for the second time in three seasons. It was December 2019 when he succeeded the sacked Manuel Pellegrini, appointed in the summer of 2018 after Moyes had first led them to safety following the departure of Slaven Bilic.
By December 2020 West Ham were not only still in the Premier League, they had made such a promising start to 2020/21 that they had moved into contention to compete for a return to European football for the first time since 2016. Moyes’ reputation, having suffered during his time at Manchester United and Sunderland, has also been rebuilt, and not least because of the recruitment of Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal that has proved similarly effective to that he oversaw while managing Everton. “There might be periods of the season where we have to change but at this moment in time it’s working,” the Scot said of his team’s progress. “I (also) want to be flexible and play with a back four when we need to and play with two centre forwards when the time is correct as well.”