West Ham United’s Premier League season will come to an end on Sunday afternoon when they take on relegation-threatened Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
West Ham enter the game 14th in the Premier League table in what is only the second time they have sat outside of the Premier League’s bottom six since the start of November, with last Sunday’s 3-1 win over Leeds United moving them up one place in the Premier League.
Barring a ridiculous 19-goal swing on the final day between the Hammers and Nottingham Forest, the only side who can overtake West Ham on the final day is Bournemouth, currently one point behind West Ham in the table in 16th.
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While West Ham’s primary focus will be on next month’s Europa Conference League final, taking place ten days after the trip to Leicester against Fiorentina in Prague, there will still be an incentive for West Ham to try and beat Leicester in five days’ time.
For each Premier League position at the end of the season, there is approximately an increase of around £2million for each place.
While West Ham are 14th, mathematically, they can still finish in 12th. For that to happen, they need to beat Leicester, hope that Wolves drop points on the final day against Arsenal and that Chelsea lose their final two games of the season against Manchester United and Newcastle United.
Should all that happen, West Ham will need to overturn the current six-goal advantage the Blues have over the Hammers. However, with Irons having a -12 goal difference and Chelsea on -6, two defeats for the Blues and a win for the Hammers would make a chance of that being overturned possible.
In the 2018/19 season, Bournemouth, who finished 14th that year, were handed a merit payment of around £13.4million for finishing in that position. However, Crystal Palace, who finished two places higher in 12th, were handed just under £17.3million, with merit figures likely to be similar to that.
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