West Ham’s best ever start to a league season saw the first five games yield five wins and 15 goals. A London derby at Tottenham was won 2–0 and there was a remarkable home game with Coventry City. The Hammers missed a penalty and were losing 0–2 when a burst of scoring saw West Ham score three goals in three minutes to demoralise the visitors. West Ham went on to win 5–2 with a hat-trick from Dave Swindlehurst. There was only one win in the next six games but the League Cup brought an abundance of goals. Already leading 2–1 from the first leg at Bury, the Lancashire side were crushed 10–0 at the Boleyn Ground with Tony Cottee scoring four. During November there were away wins at both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sunderland and a home 1–0 victory against Brighton in the League Cup. Progress in that competition was halted as Everton went through in a replay.

Supporters were cheered with a fine 4–1 victory over Tottenham and a tough FA Cup match with Wigan was won 1–0, but marred by a bad injury to Devonshire that saw him miss the rest of the season. An injury crisis then hit hard as Allen, Bonds and Goddard were all in plaster and, following a car crash, Martin had six broken ribs and Whitton a dislocated shoulder. The patched-up side did well, with three more league victories and a win over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup. The Hammers FA Cup journey was ended at Birmingham City where a poor display saw them beaten 3–0, with a pitch invasion bringing shame to the club.

After this the team struggled; a 4–1 defeat at Leicester was followed by a 6–0 drubbing at Liverpool. There were creditable draws at Manchester United and Arsenal, but the season ended on a sad note with Trevor Brooking’s last game for the club ending in a 1–0 home defeat against Everton.

Manager John Lyall was hoping for a top-six finish but with only one win in the last 12 games the side finished ninth.