X-Factor fan Jack Collison is hoping West Ham United can impress the judges by going top of the npower Championship at Southampton on Tuesday evening.
The midfielder netted his first goal in 22 months in Saturday's 4-0 home win over Blackpool and celebrated by spending the evening on the sofa watching wannabe pop stars being put through their paces on television.
Collison will hope his finest performance of the season so far will be enough to see him keep his place at St Mary's for what promises to be a top-of-the-table cracker.
"To be honest, I have not been too pleased with my form this season. Obviously the gaffer has stuck by me in the last couple of games and I feel I'm starting to get there.
"My fitness is starting to come. I don't want to use the injury as an excuse, but obviously it was a big thing. In the past few weeks, I feel I'm starting to get my fitness back and am getting sharper all the time, so it was nice to be out there again on Saturday and have the opportunity to have a go.
"It was nice to get the goal, but once again it was another terrific team performance and a clean sheet at home. I was so tired I didn't have the energy to celebrate - I just went home and watched the X-Factor and went to bed!
"Tuesday is first versus second so it's a massive game, even early on in the season. It's a great opportunity for us to go out there and send out a statement to everyone in the league that we mean business and we don't just want to go up, we want to win the league and be emphatic.
"If you look throughout our squad, there is a lot of experience there and also a nice mix of youth as well. The manager has already said that we will need our experienced heads on Tuesday - the likes of Kevin Nolan and Mark Noble who have been there and done it.
"We are all looking forward to it and have our fingers crossed that it's another three points."
Collison has returned to action this season after missing almost the whole of 2010/11 with a serious knee injury. It has taken the 23-year-old some time to get up to speed, but the Wales international believes he is approaching his best form after impressing in West Ham's previous two league matches against Crystal Palace and Blackpool.
"I think having a run of games is very important for me, but with the amount of games in the Championship they are always coming thick and fast. There are going to be disappointments when the manager doesn't pick you and I have had a couple of games when I wasn't even in the squad.
"I got my head down, worked hard and the manager has put me in for the last two games. I can't knock him for his decision because I haven't been playing too great this season, so I just want to keep improving.
"I think I've just been finding my feet and getting used to the system. I'm playing out wide again, which I've got to try to get used to. I'll always enjoy my football and Saturday was my most enjoyable game of the season.
"It was great fun. You've always got to enjoy your football. Especially myself, I've learned that I've just got to enjoy every minute out there.
"The boys were magnificent. We had a 15-minute spell in the second half when we could have scored four or five goals and, as I said, it was a real team performance. It was also great to see Sam get off the mark and I don't think he's going to stop scoring now.
"As for my goal, it's come out lovely to me and I've taken a touch but it took an age to drop down to hit. Lots of things were going through my mind as I've not scored for a little while, but obviously it was great to see it go in and I think you could see from my reaction how much it meant to me."