The rise of a young starlet often serves to add pressure to an existing elder statesmen within a club and that scenario appears to be unfolding at Upton Park.
When Glenn Roeder announced that Jermaine Defoe is likely to be a regular starter in attack next term, Paolo Di Canio began to reassess his future in east London, stating: "I love this club and want to stay here for the rest of my career, but I have to wonder if I am in the manager's plans for next season."
But few can argue with Defoe's expectant more prominent role given the impact he has made in his 25 first-team appearances this year - more than half of which were as a substitute. Aside from notching eight league goals the England under-21 international has unleashed a shot every 34 minutes on average and tested the 'keeper with a consistent 58% of his efforts.
His dribble and run success rate may be below the Premiership average, but this has not prevented Defoe continuously attempting to take on his marker and is an area of his game that should develop over time. For now his primary appeal generates from his ability to score goals and timely ones at that.
Remarkably all eight of his strikes have been scored in the second half, seven in the last quarter of the match and three in the last minute, as Ipswich, Aston Villa and Derby County will all testify to. In all, the Hammer has accounted for eight points for his side, without which would see West Ham hovering above the relegation zone rather than in the top half of the table.
Alan Curbishley must have been hoping that Jonatan Johansson's return to the fore would have had a similar impact on his side, but Charlton have lost all three games since the Swedish hitman regained full fitness. Although he played only one of these games in their entirety and did manage to hit the back of the net on his comeback.
That took Johansson's injury-hit season tally to just five, which is a disappointing haul when you consider that it equates to a goal every three-and-a-half hours. He will be hoping to improve that rate against the Hammers as Charlton look to get back to winning ways against London opposition following the defeat against Arsenal a week ago, when the striker managed just one blocked shot during the 90 minutes.
Mark Willis