There is still no definite date of top level football returning amid the coronavirus pandemic and the longer it rumbles on, the less likely we are to see a potential conclusion to the 2019/20 season.
For West Ham, when and if the league does come back, then a relegation battle will resume as David Moyes’ side battle against the drop. This season, considering the potential financial impact involved with Covid-19 already plus what is to come in the future, dropping down to The Championship would be more disastrous than at any other point.
UEFA has shown a preference for seasons to be finished rather than declared void or to end as they are without the remaining matches being played. The governing body of football in Europe held a meeting on Thursday to discuss how to move forward, with the body saying that "sporting merit" could be used to decide who qualifies for European competition..
It also emerged that UEFA’s coefficient rankings could be used to decide finishing positions for the European places.
But, the governing bodies own rules state that qualification must be decided on ‘sporting merit’ - which means that scenario cannot be used and sounds an awful lot like a points per game system.
That would mean West Ham would stay in the Premier League as goal difference would come into the equation as well. If the league was decided on PPG then the Hammers would finish in 16th, the same spot they were in before the hiatus.
Bournemouth, Norwich and Aston Villa would all go down with goal difference brought in as along with the Hammers, the Cherries, Watford and Villa have the same PPG of 0/93.
Further up the table, ninth-placed Arsenal would leapfrog London rivals Tottenham to go eighth, while all other positions would remain as it currently stands.
19/20 points per game table
1. Liverpool - 2.83
2. Man City - 2.04
3. Leicester - 1.83
4. Chelsea - 1.66
5. Manchester United - 1.55
6. Sheffield United - 1.54
7. Wolves - 1.48
8. Arsenal - 1.43
9. Tottenham - 1.41
10. Burnley - 1.34
11. Crystal Palace - 1.34
12. Everton - 1.28
13. Newcastle - 1.21
14. Southampton - 1.17
15. Brighton - 1.00
16. West Ham - 0.93
17. Watford - 0.93
18. Bournemouth - 0.93
19. Aston Villa - 0.89
20. Norwich - 0.72
