Among the new recruits was England winger Stewart Downing, Spanish goalkeeper Adrian, the Romanian full-back Razvan Rat and teenager midfielder Ravel Morrison. A good start was achieved with a 2–0 home win against Cardiff City, followed up with a 2–1 home League Cup victory over Cheltenham Town. The mood dampened with successive home defeats to Stoke City and Everton and two goalless away draws. Cardiff City were beaten 3–2 at home in the League Cup and, to the delight of the fans, rivals Tottenham Hotspur were beaten 3–0 in the league at White Hart Lane.

A tricky League Cup tie at Burnley saw the Hammers win 2–0, but in the league they were struggling. After losing 3–1 at Norwich City in November the next eight games only yielded one victory, the 3–0 home win against Fulham. There was joy, however, in the League Cup as another trip to Tottenham gave the Hammers a 2–1 victory and a place in the semi–finals. In the transfer window the Hammers swooped on Serie A and signed on loan Italian forwards Marco Borriello and Antonio Nocerino. Injuries to central defenders Collins and Tomkins and full-back Demel were causing concern and led to the loan signing of centre-half Roger Johnson from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Captain Kevin Nolan was also suspended, which led to a weakened team being fielded at Nottingham Forest in the League Cup. Manager Sam Allardyce gave debuts to no fewer than five youth team players, which in hindsight was a disaster. The Hammers were overrun by the more experienced Forest side, who won 5–0.

A few days later came the trip to Manchester City in the League Cup semi-final first leg. A dispirited, weakened West Ham side were thrashed 6–0 by an in-form City team. The second leg at the Boleyn Ground was a formality, with City winning 3–0 to give them a record 9–0 aggregate victory. Alarm bells were ringing at Upton Park as the Hammers were in the bottom three at the end of January.

February, however, turned out to be a defining month as all four games were won. Swansea City and Aston Villa were both beaten 2–0, with skipper Kevin Nolan scoring all four goals. Next came home wins against Norwich City and Southampton that lifted the side up to tenth. After this there were mixed results but April, with four defeats, was poor. The final home game was against Tottenham and the Hammers fans went home happy after the 2–0 victory. It was the third time that West Ham had beaten their London rivals that season.

A final finish of thirteenth was achieved in a campaign that had an unusual number of injuries to key players.