Last weekend, West Ham's thoroughly professional performance helped them overcome Macclesfield 3-0 at Moss Rose in the FA Cup third round to secure a mouth-watering tie at either Norwich or Chelsea at the end of the month.
One man who did much to impress was Joe Cole, the scorer of the Hammers' final goal five minutes from time.
On Saturday it is back to the rigours of the Premiership against a Leicester side that has struggled to get out of the bottom three for much of the 2001-02 campaign.
Hammers fans will hope that Cole can continue his purple patch, but it will not be easy for him to get the upper hand against Foxes dynamo Robbie Savage.
Neither midfielder has scored in the Premiership this term, but Cole has come closest, getting nine shots on target compared to Savage's tally of two. With home advantage the east Londoner may gain more opportunities to take aim and is rated at 12/1 to beat Ian Walker with the opening goal.
The England international has completed 79% of his passes and on two occasions he has provided an assist for a team-mate. From wide positions, too, Cole's distribution has been impressive - 32% of the time his centres have found a claret-and-blue shirt, seven percentage points higher than the Premiership average.
Savage has not completed as many passes as his rival and is yet to set up a goal, but his box-to-box energetic running sees him contributes so much in other areas of the pitch.
No Leicester player has made a greater number of challenges than the Welshman, but it would be fair to say that at times he is a little over-eager to win possession for his side. Indeed, no other member of Dave Bassett's squad has conceded as many fouls as the 27-year-old and he may need to be at his combative best on Saturday.
If a team gives Cole too much space, there is little doubt he can be a potential match-winner given his vast array of skills. But it is unlikely the visitors will afford him this luxury with Savage in their ranks, so the Hammer will need to be at his best to exert his usual influence on proceedings at Upton Park and break free whenever he can.
Paul Fowling