Sam Allardyce faced the media on Friday afternoon as he looked forward to the prospect of meeting Steve McClaren in Sunday's showdown with Nottingham Forest.
The Hammers manager said the match would be the ideal opportunity for the club to put the midweek Carling Cup disappointment behind them. A third straight away win would ensure the team remain on course in the promotion push.
Meanwhile, whufc.com will be the place to be for all the official transfer news first and fastest when confirmed - including exclusive interviews with those concerned.
You made nine changes in midweek so I guess you are not worried about a hangover from the defeat by Aldershot Town?
SA: I shall be worried about it the next time we play at home against Portsmouth. I don't think we will be too worried about Forest in terms of our mental capabilities because we played very well at Doncaster and were absolutely outstanding at Watford.
So we will take that attitude into this away game and hopefully we can peak to the level we did in those games. It will be a difficult game and one where we want to get some points out of because we slipped up in the last minute against Leeds.
We have to try and push for three points if we can. It is a difficult task at any stage to win an away game but to ask a team to win three away games on the trot when you have only won three in two years would be a miracle if we can pull it off. If we hit the form we showed against Watford again we will cause Forest problems and hopefully convert chances into goals.
The club haven't put three wins away from home together in the league since April/August 2007. It would be some feat?
SA: It would be an achievement at any level to win three away games on the trot. It would be a fantastic start. The unfortunate thing is we haven't married up the home results with the away results and points. We have been very close and thrown points away at home while we have gained exactly what we deserve away from home - six points.
Have you identified a reason behind the home form?
SA: There is a reason and that has been explained to the players and without going into great detail regarding that, I think I have pointed the finger at what the problem is and I've tried to eradicate the problem. For now it is on the backburner because we have an away game at Forest and we will work on this situation after the international break. Hopefully everyone comes back OK and we can try and get the win against Portsmouth [on 10 September].
Are you looking forward to renewing your rivalry with Steve McClaren?
SA: It is like everything else. You come to a new football club and you have to have time to get to know everybody and time to impose your style and your winning mentality. Steve has as big a winning mentality as I have. He has proved that over the years he had been in the game and stayed in the game.
I am sure with his fantastic experience in Holland and Germany that he will bring great things to Nottingham Forest. We can't really be judged until the end of the first season that is when the real turnarounds happen. You can say you've turned a club around quicker than that but really 12 months is the minimum. While you are progressing the thing is to make sure you get results however you can.
If you do beat Forest, will you be happy with the points tally going into the break?
SA: Yes, because we will be spot on in terms of automatic promotion and that is ten points out of five games. That is two points a game. Very few teams who get two points a game don't automatically get promoted.