Joe Bradshaw, BBC Sport
Remember when everyone said West Ham’s start looked dicey?
When the fixture list spat out early trips to bogey side Brighton and a Friday night first Premier League game at Kenilworth Road, it looked tricky.
After all, they lost an equivalent opening fixture at the City Ground to Nottingham Forest this time last season.
Throw in Chelsea at home to open up, with slow news of incomings compounding the loss of lynchpin Declan Rice, it seemed the writing was on the wall for a brutal beginning for David Moyes.