During the 1997–98 English football season,

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...

competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

After last season's near miss with relegation, West Ham United looked more convincing than they had done for years during 1997–98. John Hartson matured into one of the best strikers in the Premiership, with his partner

Paul Kitson Paul Kitson (born 9 January 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He notably played in the Premier League for Newcastle United and West Ham United, as well as in the Football League with Leicester Cit ...

also providing a steady supply of goals. Young centre-back

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and w ...

remained loyal to his employers despite endless speculation of a move to a bigger club. West Ham finished 8th in the final table, just one place short of

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

qualification. Holding on to Hartson and Ferdinand gave Harry Redknapp's men an even more enhanced chance of achieving that goal next time round.

Final league table

;Results summary ;Results by matchday

Results

''West Ham United's score comes first''

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

Squad

(captain)

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Transfers

In

Out

:Transfers in: £8,600,000 :Transfers out: £7,500,000 :Total spending: £1,100,000

Statistics

Starting 11

:''Considering starts in all competitions'' :''Considering a 4-3-1-2 formation'' * GK: #22,

Craig Forrest Craig Lorne Forrest (born 20 September 1967) is a Canadian former professional soccer player and sports commentator. As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1985 until 2002, playing his entire career in England. He made Premier League appearance ...

, 20 * RB: #2,

Tim Breacker Timothy Sean Breacker (born 2 July 1965) is an English football coach and former player, who is chief scout at Bolton Wanderers. As a player, he was a right-back who notably played in the Premier League for West Ham United, where he made 240 ...

, 24 * CB: #15,

, 46 * CB: #19,

Ian Pearce Ian Anthony Pearce (born 7 May 1974) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is the head of recruitment at West Bromwich Albion. As a player he was defender from 1990 until 2012, notably in the Premier League for B ...

, 39 * LB: #6,

David Unsworth David Gerald Unsworth (born 16 October 1973) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Oldham Athletic. Prior to this, he was most recently academy director and under-23's head coach at Pre ...

, 41 * CM: #18,

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

, 38 * CM: #11, Steve Lomas, 42 * CM: #17, Stan Lazaridis, 34 * AM: #29,

Eyal Berkovic Eyal Berkovic (or Berkovich, he, אייל ברקוביץ'; born 2 April 1972) is an Israeli former professional association footballer, football coach, team owner and television talk show presenter. As a player he was an attacking midfielde ...

, 45 * CF: #10, John Hartson, 42 * CF: #24,

Samassi Abou Samassi Abou (born 4 April 1973) is a former Ivorian professional footballer who played as a forward. He played internationally for the French under-21 team. Life and career Abou started playing in France for FC Martigues, before moving to ...

, 16

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1997-98 West Ham United F.C. season West Ham United F.C. seasons

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...