Avram Grant will travel to Manchester City on Sunday afternoon with the knowledge of how all the club's relegation rivals have fared.
The last-placed Hammers (32 points) are two points adrift of safety but will have to watch on as Blackburn Rovers (35), Blackpool (34) and Wigan Athletic (34) - the teams in 16th, 17th and 18th - all play home matches on Saturday.
That trio of games will be followed by 19th-ranked Wolverhampton Wanderers (33), the team just one point and one place above West Ham, travelling to Birmingham City on Sunday lunchtime. All five sides - including the Hammers - have just four fixtures left this campaign and, for the bottom four, have a virtually identical goal difference.
Come the 4.10pm kick-off on Sunday, all of that will be out of the manager's mind as he looks to plot a way past high-flying City. "I've been some many years in football and I have faced that so many times that I can't say if it's a good or bad thing [to play last]," he told West Ham TV.
"First we are worried about what we need to do. This is the most important thing because we know that if we do our job and we take points, we will stay in the league but of course there's one eye open to see what the other teams are doing."
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The manager should welcome Matthew Upson back into the fold after his absence last weekend against Chelsea with a chest infection although Wayne Bridge is ineligible because of the terms of his loan from City. It will mean a new left-back with Upson or Danny Gabbidon both possible candidates for the wide position.A resilient rearguard action as seen in the goalless draw at Tottenham Hotspur in March will certainly be the order of the day. "We need to do everything we can to not concede because we always create our chances. When we keep clean sheets or even if the opponent scores one goal, which of course we don't want, we always have an opportunity [to take points].
"This was the case last week against Chelsea. Manchester City are another really good team with a lot of quality players but we showed last week that we can compete with these teams.
"It was a strange game against Chelsea, I don't remember any team that have created so many chances against them but at the end of the day we didn't take the points. There were some positives things but now we need to take points."
Grant is relishing pitting his wits against an Italian manager for the second successive week, but will put aside any pleasantries with Roberto Mancini until the final whistle at least. "Roberto is a good manager. He is a manager of a team with a lot of quality, he knows what to do but he needs to do his job and I need to do mine."
Among Grant's duties will be to choose who to play in attack, with a fully-fit complement of forwards eager to shine. He is also well aware that the match could be decided by substitutions, and has several players desperate to force their way into contention - especially with Scott Parker and Mark Noble out.
"Of course we have some injuries in the midfield which are really difficult for us, but up front we have good players and good players on the bench. Against Chelsea, when the players came from the bench they created chances for us. So this is one of our strengths but we need to deliver that strength."
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