The international break is thankfully over for the rest of the season and now, West Ham have one thing in mind - to finish the campaign as the best of the rest.
Manuel Pellegrini's side sit ninth in the table and welcome Everton to Stratford on Saturday evening, who are just two points behind them in the Premier League standings.
Those two, alongside Wolves, Watford and Leicester City are teams that want to finish seventh. That spot could potentially open up a European place for whoever finishes one place outside the top six but there are a lot of ramifications for that to happen. However, you have to be in it to win it.
Even so, the title to claim the "best of the rest" outside of the big six and the extra bit of prize money that comes with it is always an welcome boost and with West Ham not expected to have as much money available for transfers this summer as they did this time last year, it could make the world of difference.
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If the Hammers had any sense of consistency this season, they could have had seventh spot wrapped up by now. As it stands, Wolves and their excellent manager Nuno Espirto Santo are in the driving seat, closely followed by the Hornets and then the Hammers.
It would also have helped if their defence was stronger, which is a real problem area for the Chilean this season. Aside from Issa Diop, the manager has had to make too many changes to his back four thanks to injury and loss of form and despite the heroics all season long of Lukasz Fabianski, that hasn't always been enough.
Pellegrini's side lost their first four games of the season and were already playing catch up by the time September came around. They won four straight in December to make that up but every time the team has had a chance to hit seventh in the table this season, they have lost on four occasions.
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Marco Silva divides opinion on Merseyside, much like has wherever he has been in the Premier League. He got Hull City to the verge of a miraculous Premier League survival only to mess it up right at the end, he started well at Watford but had his head turned by the Toffees and was eventually sacked by the Hornets after a dreadful run.
Now at Everton, he spent big money on the likes of Richarlison and Yerry Mina but has failed to live up to expectation - again. The Portuguese manager is stubborn and wedded to his 4-2-3-1 formation that he won't budge from - a la Maurizio Sarri - and his zonal marking defensively from set pieces is a constant source of frustration for Evertonians.
For the struggle it took Everton to get Silva and the subsequent compensation they had to pay the Hornets in the aftermath of his messy move to Goodison Park, it's currently not looking good value for money.
Both managers this weekend can put down a marker and both need strong ends to the season if they want to overhaul Wolves and grab that seventh spot. Pellegrini has a project in place and a seventh spot in the final standings will represent an absolutely terrific achievement compared to the last couple of seasons in east London.
Whereas for Everton, seventh is probably the least they expect after a couple of years of heavy investment from owner Farhad Moshiri, not that many of those big money additions have panned out at all well.
Both teams are at a crossroads. Either they can finish seventh this season and invest in the summer to build on it, or they'll finish lower and have their owners maybe not quite so keen to invest to heavily.
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