There was no bigger character in the game than Stuart Pearce during his glory days so he has every right to call for the same type of courage from the Hammers squad.

And before the massive weekend clash against Burnley Psycho declared: “I think we’ve got to show some character, especially at home. We’re playing a well organised Burnley side, and a side who galvanised a victory last weekend.

They’ve been playing particularly well. Their results have probably not turned around and shown us the whole picture. They are a good side with an outstanding manager.

“It’s a game that we’ve got to look to get on the front foot in. We’ve got to look to play better than we did in the last two matches. One or two things we felt we didn’t do particularly well, like conceding cheap goals, we’re going to have to improve on that.”

Despite successive defeats Pearce is taking the  positives from the last two contests and points to young declan Rice as one of them.

Pointing to the development of young defender Declan Rice, who has become a regular in the first team since his promotion from the West Ham Academy, the former West Ham player knows that, even in defeat, there are lessons to be learned.

He said: : “Every time you take to a pitch, there’s a learning curve to be had. We had young Declan in the side and every minute he gets in a Premier League match, and bear in mind he played at Swansea for 90 minutes, every minute he gets is a bonus to us as a football club. It’s money in the bank for us as a football club in regard to his knowledge.

“There’s always positives there. Sometimes when you get beaten in any individual game, you’re very downcast, because it’s a result driven business. But you’ve got to look and drill deeper than that and say there’s fantastic learning curves all the time.”

He knows exactly how important a win is this weekend saying: “I think they are always important, three points in the Premier League.

The profile of the Premier League is extending year on year, week on week even. That’s probably the one thing that has surprised me a little bit – the profile of each individual game and how the media spotlight every individual game.

“The profile of the Premier League is enormous and with that come the pressures accordingly. The feeling when you win, in the dressing room afterwards, makes everything worthwhile.”