West Ham will need to keep up solid defensive performances to succeed

After an intense battle with Fulham over the past weekend, West Ham found themselves winners after a tough 1-0 victory thanks to strong defensive play.

After a brutal run of games to start off the season, the Hammers have finally gotten to a run of games in which the competition will not be nearly as tough. The Hammers churned out a 1-0 victory over Fulham and kept another clean sheet on the season.

However, if the Hammers are going to succeed this season, they will need to keep up the effort level and intensity defensively, especially against some of the weaker sides in the table.

It always seems like crucial losses and draws to bottom table teams always plague the Irons at the end of each season. It almost feels like every season, West Ham will get a few great results against top-half teams, only to lose games to teams we should be beating.

So the question for David Moyes and the squad now becomes, how can we make sure we pick up points against the lower teams in the league? Well to this fan that answer is very simple, being one of the best teams defensively.

Of course, this is easier said than done, but if the Hammers victory over Fulham was any indication, West Ham can play this way. The new formation suits defenders as we have 3 centre-backs in the team, and with the play of Cresswell and Ogbonna at the moment, I see no reason why this West Ham team cannot be a great defensive unit.

The Hammers have done very well to start this season when you consider the run of fixtures at the start of the season. Now that the Irons will start to face some of the promoted and bottom tier teams in the league, three points in each game are as crucial as ever.

When you look at how the table is shaping up for this current Premier League season, there is a great chance that West Ham could finish in the top half of the table if they keep up this level of play.

We know that this squad is capable of scoring goals, we now need to see the consistency and focus that it takes to be a top defensive team in the Premier League.