Let's rewind to March 2020 for a minute. Football had been suspended. West Ham's vice-chairman Karren Brady called for the Premier League season to be declared "null and void". Which, as only goal difference kept West Ham out of the relegation zone, struck virtually everyone as naked self-interest.
West Ham need not worry about cancelling relegation now. Instead, they can wonder about which side of another dotted line they will finish: between the Champions League qualifiers and the rest. A club with no top-four finish since 1986 threaten to gatecrash the elite.
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