Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness says that West Ham should not be in a relegation battle considering the quality of players in the squad.

The former Blackburn and Newcastle manager believes the Hammers should be at least midtable, while he goes as far to claim that there is no team outside of the top six who have better players available to them:

“Who, outside the top six, have got a better squad than West Ham? On paper, but what does that matter. Who, on paper? But paper is worth nothing you can tear it up in a second.”

“I think West Ham underperform. With that group, they should easily be midtable up the way, for me.”

Although Souness’s assertion that the Irons have the best squad behind the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham can be disputed, there is no doubt they have underachieved.

Players like Felipe Anderson, Sebastien Haller, Issa Diop, Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Fornals have not hit the heights expected of them this season, while the best performers in the squad, such as Michail Antonio and Declan Rice, have had to carry the team at times.

The win against Chelsea last week has certainly eased fears of relegation but going into the final five games, they are still just four points off the bottom three.