West Ham will get what they can out of their opening game of the 2019/20 Premier league campaign as two-time reigning champions Manchester City visit London Stadium on August 10.
It would be typical of the Hammers to somehow get something from the game on that Saturday lunchtime but if we're honest, anything will be a bonus. The two games after Pep Guardiola's side arrive in the capital are where we can start judging the new-look Hammers.
Manuel Pellegrini's team have away games against Brighton and Watford in the following two matches - Brighton under a new manager in Graham Potter and a bit of a bogey side for the Hammers and the Hornets whop will be battling for seventh place along with West Ham.
After that, it is trips to a home game against Norwich who will be only three games into the first top flight Premier League campaign for four years and then the team is on the road again to newly-promoted Aston Villa.
On paper, these are four very winnable games for West Ham.
They struggled massively on the road last season, particularly in the second half of the campaign as Pellegrini's side failed to register a win on their travels between December 27 and April 27 when they saw off Spurs 1-0 in North London.
That took in terrible displays at Burnely, Bournemouth, Wolves, Cardiff City in defeats and they also lost to Chelsea and Manchester united but did put in improved performances.
How new-look in terms of personnel remains to be seen, there are still six weeks left of the transfer window for Pellegrini and Mario Husillos to work their magic in the market but we could be seeing a new style of football from the Chilean.
The €27m arrival of Pablo Fornals will change things as Pellegrini wants to play both him and Manuel Lanzini in the same team and both are essentially number 10s and creative forces that the Chilean boss adores.
That will mean much more narrow formation, with Felipe Anderson likely to be the player providing any width and that'll be down the left. Should Ryan Fredericks be the man deployed at right back, he'll be gunning up and down that side with his searing pace.
We might not get to see the new formation flex its muscles so much against City as the visitors will obviously dominate possession but we might get more a chance to see what this Hammers team are about in then proceeding four games.
The team certainly need to up their levels away from home and give the fans some hope for the new season away from London Stadium. We got a glimpse of it on the final day of last season after the 4-1 thumping of ten-man Watford at Vicarage Road to round off the season in style.
The four games following the city test will show just how far West Ham have come - and how far they could go.
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