West Ham picked up a third win in four Premier League matches after a 3-1 victory at Southampton on Saturday moved them up to ninth in the table.

Slaven Bilic’s men were thumped 4-0 by Manchester City last week, and looked set for back-to-back losses when Manolo Gabbiadini gave the Saints the lead at St Mary’s.

However, goals from Andy Carroll, Pedro Obiang, and Mark Noble secured a ninth win of the campaign for the Hammers, who in turn moved into the top half of the Premier League table.

Bilic’s men are now nine points behind Everton in seventh, the position they finished in last term, and they will feel confident of going on a run which sees them replicate last season’s stunning finish in the league.

The Hammers boss was one of a few managers who were busy during the January transfer window, with Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte coming in, and Dimitri Payet moving to Marseille for £25 million.

Payet was the most high-profile outgoing, and here are TWO others that perhaps should have left the club last month…

Adrian

Spanish goalkeeper Adrian is clearly the second choice at the London Stadium now after several early season errors saw him lose his place to Darren Randolph.

Adrian, who up until this season had been excellent for West Ham, made errors against both West Brom and Stoke, with the latter game his last league match before Republic of Ireland international Randolph replaced him in between the sticks.

Since then, Adrian has played just two games for the Hammers, as Randolph continues to do well, so it looks like the Spaniard’s time in East London is coming to an end.

As he proved in past seasons, the 30-year-old is clearly a competent shot-stopper, and would have been worth a punt for many European sides last month.

Yet, it looks like he’ll run down the rest of his Hammers contract on the bench at the London Stadium.

Ashley Fletcher

Young striker Ashley Fletcher moved to West Ham last summer after failing to make a single appearance for Manchester United.

The 21-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at Championship side Barnsley before making the move to East London, but his first team struggles have continued at the London Stadium, starting just three games in all competitions thus far.

And, given that Bilic’s men were seriously struggling in front of goal earlier in the campaign, for Fletcher not to get much of an opportunity suggests where he is in the pecking order at the club.

Thus, a January move wouldn’t have been much of a surprise, and it looked like he was going to join Leeds on loan for the rest of the season, but no deal materialised.

With Andy Carroll firing in the goals, Jonathan Calleri contributing, and Andre Ayew having returned from the African Cup of Nations recently, first team chances will be even harder to come by for Fletcher in the second half of the season.