It's been a bit of a tough time for West Ham this season.

Last year the east London club were one of the most feared sides around as they notched away wins at Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal on the way to a seventh place finish.

That was meant to be the precursor to a new era involving the London Stadium and European football but so far those plans have been tarnished.

The club failed to qualify for the Europa League once again during August going out at the play-off stage whilst teething troubles at their new ground has surely affected their league form. Three points from four games is nowhere near the form they were showing for much of last season and you have to say, it's because many of the players aren't near the level they once were.

The Hammers' start may not have been brilliant, but we’ve teamed up with 7 Of The Best to bring you a footballing treat for the season. It’s free to play and the best individual score each week wins £500, the highest scoring team wins £1,500 a week and there is a prize of £2,000 for the best individual over the course of a month. Want to win bigger? Nab yourself a whopping £500k if you get all seven of your selections correct for seven consecutive weeks.

So in the same spirit as our friends at 7 Of The Best, here are seven Hammers who can raise their game to bring their team back into contention...

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Adrian

Adrian was pretty solid last season as West Ham qualified for Europe but so far he hasn't been anywhere near that this season. In Darren Randolph the Hammers don't really have a back-up good enough to really challenge so arguably their number one has got a little complacent. If that's the case he needs to stamp that out quickly for the Hammers to repeat last season's feat.

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Winston Reid

Reid was one of the best defenders around last season and was a huge part of why the club did so well. He reads the game nicely and very rarely gets caught out of position but so far this season he seems to be lacking confidence. He got a face full of Sergio Aguero's elbow which wouldn't have helped but the Hammers need him back to his best soon.

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Cheikhou Kouyate

Kouyate is a really imposing presence in midfield but the Hammers seem to have lost the central battle in nearly every game this season. It's not just down to him but as one of the chief men charged with stopping the opposition playing he really needs to get back to where he was last year.

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Angelo Ogbonna

Ogbonna made a number of appearances in his first season for the Hammers last year and appeared to form a pretty decent defensive pairing with Winston Reid. He's only made one appearance in the Premier League this season so far so he needs to start kicking on to win his place off of James Collins. Collins was on the periphery last year so that suggests Ogbonna needs to start grafting as he is fit to play.

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Sam Byram

Byram is a decent young defender but he racks up yellow cards like they're a collectors item. There's nothing wrong with being physical but he needs to curb it a bit because eventually it's going to catch him, and the rest of his team, out.

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Manuel Lanzini

Lanzini was one of the stars of last season and became almost as key going forward as Dimitri Payet. The Hammers can't rely on Payet all the time though so Lanzini needs to try and reach his level. He has the ability to match the Frenchman but only time will tell if he wants to put the work in.

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Mark Noble

The clamour for Mark Noble to be in the Euro 2016 squad for England was particularly vociferous and in being left out a lot of people were shocked. This season though far fewer expected him to be in Sam Allardyce's team for the World Cup qualifier and that hints at the Hammers captain's lack of form. He needs to get back to his best quickly.

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