CAN Southampton and West Ham stay in the top four and gatecrash the Champions League? That seems a preposterous notion.
Yet consider the opposition. Of last season's top six, only Chelsea have improved. Some of the others have deteriorated disastrously.
Liverpool lost Luis Suarez and replaced him with Mario Balotelli, which is like sacking Michelangelo and getting a painter and decorator to have a go at finishing the Sistine ceiling.
Arsenal, blissfully happy because they won at the weekend, ignore two inconvenient facts. One: they have fewer decent defenders than even Manchester United. Two: they only won at Sunderland.
Everton and Tottenham have simply reverted to type. The former have started their season ponderously slowly, as they did most years under David Moyes. The latter are once more only consistent at disappointing their fans and leaving their manager looking hapless.
Okay, Manchester City will be able to "concentrate on the Premier League" once they are dumped out of the Champions League. That might not save manager Manuel Pellegrini, but should enable City to finish above the Saints and Hammers.
And with United getting goals in "LVG time", and perhaps spending on a centre-back or three in January, they too must be serious top-four contenders this time after last season's seventh place.
So, realistically, Southampton and West Ham probably won't both grab Champions League places. But one of them might.
Southampton and West Ham probably won't both grab Champions League places. But one of them might
If the Saints go marching in, we'll have to praise owner Katharina Liebherr for appointing manager Ronald Koeman and backing his astute purchasing plan.
But it is West Ham's owners who should receive some sort of bravery award for toughing it out last season when things were getting ugly - and not just the football.
Last March, Hammers fans booed when their team was winning, an act so rare that it provoked almost universal censure from outsiders. Manager Sam Allardyce cupped his ears in disbelief. But supporters of the London club insist the grimly awful way which their team went about the task of despatching Hull that day was just the culmination of considerable suffering.
Booing at half-time (when West Ham were 1-0 up) and at the finish (when they had chiselled out a 2-1 win against opponents who had 10 men for 70 minutes) was a reaction to almost two seasons of stultifying football.
The protests continued, despite the fact that Allardyce, who had won promotion in his first season, secured safety in his second. In May, fans hung a "Fat Sam Out" banner outside Sullivan's mansion home.
Once disaffection plumbs that sort of nadir, the manager normally knows the only question is how much compensation he will get on his way out. At Tottenham, for instance, chairman Daniel Levy would have been flexing his trigger finger long before protests got that close to home.
West Ham sit fourth in the Premier League and beat Manchester City on Saturday [GETTY]
But West Ham's Davids, Sullivan and Gold, plotted a unique course through the turbulent waters. They listened to their supporters but also backed their manager. With a move to the Olympic stadium on the horizon (a coup for which the owners should also be commended), they reasoned that Allardyce fitted the vital role of staying in the Premier League.
Yet, sympathising with the fans, Sullivan and Gold tasked Allardyce with playing a more expansive, passing game.
So at this point in a rare story, we need to laud the manager for accepting that brief and for bringing in an old friend, Teddy Sheringham, to sharpen attacking play. Insiders report that Sheringham's impact and influence have been significant.
He has been helped enormously by new strikers who have hit the ground running, so the owners should get yet more homage for splashing the cash.
It is not normal to praise owners, because there are plenty of bad ones about. The managerial churn at Fulham and Leeds and the implosion of Birmingham (interestingly, since the Davids left St Andrews) come to mind.
But if West Ham join the Champions League Goliaths, it will be because of two Davids. Perhaps supporters will express their gratitude by putting bunting up outside their mansions.
Phil Dowd (centre) sent off Branislav Ivanovic at Old Trafford on Sunday [GETTY]
THE breathtaking ignorance of football law shown by TV pundits is unforgivable, especially this season.
The Premier League have made Howard Webb available for broadcasters to consult every week. But MotD2’s Peter Schmeichel and Jermaine Jenas didn’t bother.
Because ref Phil Dowd wrongly ignored illegal wrestling when Manchester United defended a corner, the TV “experts” adopted the default position of believing Dowd had got everything else wrong.
