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Paul Merson has claimed it’s been “scary” how well West Ham manager David Moyes has done with his squad this season.

The Hammers finished 16th in the Premier League last year, but with four games remaining this campaign they are in the hunt for Champions League qualification.

Moyes has helped transform the mentality of the team to see them mix it with the best in the division, and they’ve now got some favourable fixtures to try finish in the top four.

As it stands, they do find themselves fifth in the table.

However, they are only three points behind Chelsea and five points behind Leicester, who certainly have the tougher fixtures remaining on paper.

Pundit Merson is convinced that Moyes needs to win the individual award for manager of the year if West Ham end up in the top four by the end of the season.

The 58-year-old Scotsman has been integral to the turnaround at the London Stadium, where he’s now got a team that are playing in his image.

“David Moyes has got to be manager of the season if he gets West Ham in the Champions League,” Merson wrote for the Daily Star.

“That would mean he has finished above Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, and that would be a phenomenal achievement.

“With the players West Ham have got? It’s scary. You have got to judge a manager by the tools he has got. And with the greatest of respect to the Hammers, their squad is nowhere near as good as those other teams.”

TBR’s View:

West Ham look a different outfit altogether now with Moyes permanently at the helm, and supporters are fully behind what he’s trying to build at the London Stadium.

You don’t become a bad manager overnight, so it’s great to see him back to his old self in terms of what he achieved at Everton earlier in his career.

There is a look from the outside that the Hammers are the team in the top-four race who will be feeling the pressure the least, but internally this group of players will know they may not have a better chance of securing Champions League football for the club.