Summerville proves he could be West Ham's saviour

Craven Cottage, Wednesday night: as 2,000 travelling West Ham fans erupted in relief, Crysencio Summerville stood motionless on the turf, arms outstretched, a grin stretching from ear to ear. The Dutch winger’s 65th-minute strike—his fifth of the Premier League campaign—settled a tense west-London derby 1-0 and propelled the Hammers within touching distance of safety.

The goal, lashed low beyond Bernd Leno after a swift counter, continued a remarkable personal turnaround. Signed from Leeds United in August 2024, Summerville mustered a solitary goal in his first 38 appearances for the club; he has now scored seven in his last ten. More importantly, the three points trimmed the gap to 17th-place Nottingham Forest to two, intensifying a survival battle that has gripped the club since December.

“We have to fight until the end, that’s what we did,” the 22-year-old told reporters. “I’m in a good space. I love to play, I’m just happy to be back and I try to show it every week.”

The victory also extended West Ham’s recent resurgence under Nuno Espírito Santo. Fourteen of their 28 points this season have arrived in the past eight league fixtures, a sequence that has lifted them to within a win of escaping the drop zone. Should they defeat Manchester City at the Etihad on 14 March, the Hammers will climb out of the bottom three for the first time since the festive period.

Nuno, who celebrated a fourth away win of the campaign on the banks of the Thames, refused to let last weekend’s 5-0 drubbing at Liverpool derail momentum. “It can happen—games like Liverpool—but the confidence is there,” the 52-year-old said. “The boys are working very hard, very committed, knowing that the situation that we are [in] doesn’t change anything.”

The fixture list, however, offers little respite. After Monday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie at Brentford, West Ham face three of the current top four—City, Arsenal and Aston Villa—while also negotiating relegation six-pointers against Wolves and Leeds United, the latter on the final day. Five of those nine remaining matches are at the London Stadium, where protests against the board and only three home wins this term have soured the atmosphere.

Yet optimism is rising. Summerville’s renaissance mirrors a collective belief that the Hammers’ season is finally trending upward. “We took positives from the Liverpool game,” he insisted. “The fans behind us are very pleased and we are going in the right direction—the only way is up.”

For a club staring at a first relegation since 2011, upward is exactly where they need to go. Summerville, once a peripheral figure, now carries the weight of east London’s survival hopes—and, on this evidence, he might just shoulder it all the way to safety.