West Ham boss David Moyes is encouraged by the growing togetherness and harmony at the club.
The Scot is approaching his one-year anniversary at the London Stadium after he returned for a second spell on December 29, 2019 to take over from the sacked Manuel Pellegrini.
At the time the Hammers were 17th in the table and tensions were high with fans expecting a push for Europe that season, not a battle to survive.
Moyes managed to turn the tide once again and lead them to safety before this term has seen a further upturn in results with West Ham taking points off Manchester City, Tottenham and Leicester to sit in 10th at Christmas.
"When you're just outside the bottom three, and suddenly you've got yourself mingling near the top end and competing against nearly all the top sides, not looking out of place, I'd have to say well done to the players," the 57-year-old said.
"We've had some outstanding performers so far this season – some of our players are playing as well as anybody else in the country.
"We've also had big improvements from players who maybe over the last year or two have not played as well. From the players' point of view, they have to be really pleased with what they've done.
"For me I see a growing team spirit and togetherness throughout the club, and now we're just looking to pull that all together.
"I really do think there's a harmony around the club and we can continue to build on that. I've got to keep on them. I can't stop now, I have to keep at it, and we have to keep pushing more."
The one-time Manchester United manager admitted it was a "big satisfaction" to keep the club up given the situation when he arrived last December.
With 21 points already accumulated after 14 games, West Ham are not far off the magic 40 mark but hope to continue pushing the best sides in the division during the rest of the campaign.
Even Monday's 3-0 defeat at Chelsea saw the Hammers ask plenty of Frank Lampard's side, but before the next test against the top six is a home clash with Brighton on Sunday.
The last three meetings between the sides have finished all square while the east London club have not defeated the Seagulls since 2012.
Moyes added: "We'll continue trying to make progress. I think we've had a really good year here at West Ham. I took over when we near the bottom three, but we came out of lockdown and won our games.
"We then had to start the new season and be better than we were and I think we've shown that we are that. Hopefully we can continue, keep positive and trying to play well.
"We've given a lot of the big teams a run for their money in some of our games and I'm hoping that we can go to the next stage and start beating them in the coming months."
