One week from today it's Christmas Day and West Ham United have gone into the holidays on the back of a positive result.
The Hammers beat Southampton 1-0 at the weekend thanks to Sebastien Haller's first-half goal which made his back-to-back away wins and somewhat ease the pressure on manager Manuel Pellegrini.
United have long to wait a while for the next game as they're not back in Premier League action until a week tomorrow against a Crystal Palace side that has beaten Arsenal and Manchester United this season.
This is because the schedule fixture against Liverpool has been postponed due to the Reds being in Club World Cup action after winning the Champions League last season.
That gives Pellegrini more time to prepare for the Eagles as they look to avenge the 2-1 home loss from the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
There will be plenty of build up to the clash and with that said, here's all the news from around the London Stadium over the past 24 hours.
Pellegini's big decision
Pellegrini's switch to a 4-4-2 formation paid off against the Saints and the result came without Felipe Anderson.
By his own admission, the Brazilian is out of form.
"For sure, this is the worst phase I've been going through with the team," he said ahead of the trip to St Mary's. "When I arrived it was hard but we started winning and I started to show my potential by helping the team with goals, assists and dribbles, and right now things are not working out as we want.
"Things have to improve and I have to improve to be able to help the team."
Injury news
David Martin picked up a hip injury when making a clearance late on against Southampton.
Pellegrini confirmed that it was exactly the same injury that has kept Lukasz Fabianski out of action since September but the club is hopeful that it is not as severe.
However, there is hope that Fabianski could be back in action for the trip to Selhurst Park in what could be an enormous boost for the Hammers to start their climb away from danger in the Premier League.
He is rated at 50/50 to make his return to action on Boxing Day.
Click here for the latest West Ham injury news and expected return dates
Benitez hint
Rafa Benitez has put West Ham United and Manuel Pellegrini on notice with comments about wanting to return to the Premier League.
"I’ve had offers from the Premier League but you have to do the right things in your head," he told the Athletic Podcast ."Then when I left, I decided I wanted to keep working, I didn’t want to wait.
"That’s it, it was a big project, a great option and I was happy with that.
"If these teams that fired their managers, if they wanted to come in the past, they could come. And if they wanted to come they had to be really convinced.
"And if something happens – because football changes – it will be in the future.
"We will consider everything but at the moment it’s fine and I’m happy with that."
Pellegrini's to-do-list
Because there's no game this weekend, the Hammers squad have been given a few days off after their big win at St Mary's.
Declan Rice has been posting about his trip to Rome and the players are set to report back to Rush Green later this week to commence preparation for the Eagles.
For Pellegirini, he has three things to work on ahead of the short trip to south London. Read all about it here.
