Form shows West Ham could get off to a flyer during stint away from London Stadium

Tottenham will not be the only displaced team in London next season. West Ham will have to play at least their first three fixtures away from the Olympic Park while their stadium is re-configured following the World Athletics Championships there.

It's not the first time the Hammers have been forced away from home for a prolonged spell.

After Upton Park was bombed in 1944, they were forced to play away for three months at the beginning of the 1944-45 season of the Wartime League South.

In typically quirky West Ham fashion, the spell included a 10-match unbeaten run - only for them to then lose the first fixture upon their return to the Boleyn Ground in a 1-0 defeat by Spurs that October.

When they do get back to the London Stadium, things have to improve. The final home game there last season was pitiful - a soul-destroying 4-0 capitulation against Liverpool.

That followed thrashings in east London by Arsenal and Manchester City - twice. And one lesson of the troubled first season is that Slaven Bilic's team need an injection of pace because their new pitch is big and wide.

That said, Bilic's first season in charge in 2016-17 began with away wins at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City in the opening month.

So will it actually help the Hammers to face this re-arrangement at the start of this campaign? That's how unpredictable they can be. Or usually. This time, if the squad is not profoundly improved, the enforced time on the road could signal a struggle from the start.