There’s a scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – the original Gene Wilder classic, not the Johnny Depp abomination – where a gang of children rush suddenly into Bill’s Candy Shop.
As Bill, the owner, shovels sweeties liberally from glass canisters into a sea of tiny hands, a forlorn Charlie Bucket looks in from the outside, through a frosted window pane.
The candy man doesn’t appear too concerned with charging the other children for their fistfuls of lollies, but as soon as Charlie wanders in, he instates a strict prepay system.
Charlie slopes out, very much aware of his own impoverished status, but entirely unaware of the power he’ll soon have over the entire confectionery industry, courtesy of a golden choking hazard he’ll find in his birthday chocolate bar.
So, why this hackneyed, 1970s film reference? Well, at the beginning of this season, West Ham were very much like poor Charlie; uncertain of their future, trepidatious to assume a spot at the premium candy counter.
But now, having already beaten Arsenal earlier in the season, and then Tottenham on Wednesday, they are affecting the title race from behind the frosted pane, with fixtures against the Gunners and Leicester City to come.
Depending on the result of this weekend’s North London derby, Leicester might be six points clear of Spurs and Arsenal. The Foxes face Watford next, a fine, potent team, but one that is expected to lose to the league leaders.
If Leicester and Arsenal win, their lead will be such that it will require two losses between this weekend and the end of the season for them to be pegged back. Of Leicester’s remaining opponents, only Manchester United are placed higher than the Hammers.
If Leicester are to lose from now on, West Ham, with bubbles soaring off the back of two straight wins and two straight clean sheets, are arguably the most likely to beat them.
The Hammers have already had a tangible impact on the Foxes’ season; Spurs had the chance to clamber to the top of the league yesterday, following Leicester’s draw with West Brom, but were downed by a superbly committed, unusually-arranged Hammers side. A foxy misstep that went unpunished, thanks to West Ham.
And then, just as West Ham might inadvertently push Spurs back into the main thrust of the title race by beating Leicester, they can also end Arsenal’s insipid challenge once and for all. They face the Gunners, a team that are blue-faced and hacking, the week before the Leicester match.
If we could pause for a moment to comment on Arsenal’s, well, not plight, more ‘annual period of agony’. Three weeks ago, they had beaten the leaders, and were within touching distance of cementing first place. Now, having lost three games on the trot – two of them in the league – the air supply appears to have been cut off, and hands are being clasped around throats.
For Arsene Wenger, and in spite of the fact that every season there seems to be a match that represents something of an ultimatum for him, this upcoming North London derby might just be the most important match of his last decade in management.
If, in this season of a weakened title-chasing pack, where the defending champions aren’t even in the conversation, he manages to lose the league to Spurs… well, even the enduring legacy of the Invincibles might not save him. But if he wins the derby, the next hurdle, and a high one, will be painted claret and blue.
This is not to say that the only impetus West Ham have to finish the season strongly is to upset a couple of London rivals, or fiddle with Leicester’s manifest destiny. No, West Ham have grand ambitions, of Europe most immediately, and just like Charlie, as he walked down the red carpet and into Wonka’s factory, West Ham may well be involved in their own glitzy title races in the near future.
Theirs is a bright horizon, with a new – and according to the ownership, overbooked – stadium to come. They have a genuine stud in Dimitri Payet, and have assembled, in startlingly quick fashion, one of the deepest and most talented squads in the league.
Coach Slaven Bilic has instilled a ferocious camaraderie in his lot; he was seen banging on Diafra Sakho’s chest, and kissing his cheek before the Senegalese was sent on as a substitute against Spurs, his first appearance for some months.
There’s no denying Bilic is a passionate, charismatic leader, or that this sort of energy, generated at the very top, doesn’t seep down into his players.
There is a reason why West Ham have conceded so few late goals – the league’s fewest, in fact, in the last 15 minutes of matches. Having Bilic there, barely able to keep himself from bursting on the pitch to two-foot an opposing attacker, must be like an adrenaline injection, sustaining the team until the job is done.
Certainly, the way the Hammers held out against Tottenham, when the game was in its final throws, was impressive in the extreme.
Their own selfish aim might only be a fourth place finish, but for the broader conclusion at the pointy end of the league, West Ham can play a major part. No team still yet to face them will be glad to, in particular those clubs that have so much at stake.
As Willy Wonka says, as he drops a pair of football boots into a vat of some sugary solution, “It gives it a little kick”, so too will this audacious Hammers side. The team that survives the test they set, as the final day approaches, will be worthy winners indeed.
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