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West Ham fans seemingly grew tired of Sam Allardyce's methods. Apparently, they didn't quite fit the West Ham way, but current Hammers boss Slaven Bilic says supporters should be appreciative of the part Big Sam played in getting them this far. 

Bilic said: "He took over West Ham in a moment when they were in the Championship and got them back straight away. He stabilised them in the Premier League and did an amazing job." Well said. 

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Victory for West Ham today will put them fifth in the table, only four points behind Manchester City, who will have a game in hand. 

Blowing European bubbles at the Olympic Stadium next season? It's a distinct possibility but Sunderland stand in their way and are in decent nick themselves, and led by boss Sam Allardyce, who might just want to stick one on his previous employers. 

West Ham make three changes to the team that won at Blackburn. Adrian is back in goal, Sam Byram returns to the defence after being cup-tied and Manuel Lanzini is back from injury in place of Victor Moses, who drops to the bench. Andy Carroll is also there. 

West Ham: Adrian, Byram, Collins, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble (c), Kouyate, Antonio, Payet, Lanzini, Emenike.

Subs: Randolph (GK), Henry, Oxford, Song, Obiang, Moses, Carroll   

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Sunderland are unchanged from the team that beat Manchester United so new signings Wahbi Khazri and Lamin Kone will be looking to continue their good start to life under Big Sam.   

Sunderland: Mannone, Yedlin, Kone, O'Shea (c), van Aanholt, Kirchhoff, Cattermole, M'Vila, Khazri, N'Doye, Defoe  

Subs: Pickford (GK), Jones, Rodwell, Kaboul, Toivonen, Larsson, Borini  

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As players up and down the land begin to consider their votes for the annual Professional Footballers' Association awards, West Ham wizard Dimitri Payet is bound to be up there along with the likes of Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez. 

Had Payet not been crocked for eight weeks with an ankle injury, would the seventh-placed Hammers be mounting their own title challenge? 

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Were you thinking what I was thinking? Yep, step forward Lee Cattermole, a man who seems a reformed character this season having been booked only five times compared to 14 times last term.

Sam Allardyce says of former Marseille midfielder Payet: "There's no doubt about it, he's been the outstanding difference because while he was injured, it was probably the worst run of results Slaven Bilic has had when he wasn't playing."

Last weekend's masterclass against Blackburn in the FA Cup showed Payet is back in the groove. 

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We all know that Sam Allardyce likes to do his homework so you can imagine the Sunderland boss pitching up this week's team meeting armed with a white board and a stack of video clips with one simple message: stop Dimitri Payet. 

The West Ham midfielder has seven goals and five assists in the Premier League this season. If only Sunderland had a tough-tackling midfielder to do a man-to-man marking job on him....