Tottenham Hotspur entertained their rivals from East London in an exciting match in N17. Having spectacularly thrown away a two goal lead to lost to Brighton before the international break, Ange Postecoglou had plenty of time to stew on that result and will have wanted his players to atone for their collapse on the South Coast.
Thankfully for him, and the home crowd in Tottenham, his players rose to the task eventually.
With West Ham taking an unexpected early lead, Spurs supporters will have feared the worst. The North London contingent often feel that West Ham raise their game in this fixture, teasing their visitors that this is their cup final.
This tends to happen only when those supporters feel continually frustrated by an inability to win a fixture against a perceived lesser side, and after Mohammed Kudus opened the scoring for the Irons it will have felt like destiny ordained another grim afternoon for those in white.
Thankfully, via a masterful performance from the majestic Dejan Kulusevski and an on-pitch meltdown which saw Kudus dismissed, the home side showed their quality to see their rivals off in style.
Here are four things we learnt from the much needed victory.
Strength in depth
It may not have been apparent in the defeat to Brighton, with Postecoglou seemingly resistant to making changes, but this match showcased how strong Spurs' squad has become. The home side went into half time having levelled through the excellent Dejan Kulusevski, but frustrated with a ponderous 45 minutes.
Postecoglou correctly identified that for all the attacking talent on show, Spurs weren't competing in the middle and therefore were not making the most of the talent in the side, so replaced James Maddison with Pape Matar Sarr.
On the face of it this was a cautious change, but in fact Sarr changed the game with his energy, proactivity and quick thinking, deservedly creating the final goal of the day for captain Son Heung Min.
If that wasn't enough, with his side in control the Australian manager had the luxury of replacing Yves Bissouma with Rodrigo Bentancur, Dominic Solanke with Richarlison and Son with Timo Werner.
There is still work to do on this squad, but the majority of sides in this league would look on in awe at the North Londoners bench.
Destiny Udogie's mental fortitude
The Italian left back will not be pleased with himself after showing Jarred Bowen the fastest route to creating the visitor's opener. He had positioned himself poorly and his effort to make amends was clumsy at best. Often a young player can crumble on the back of such an error
Udogie, however, continued to run his line and push forward at every opportunity, and got his reward in the second half to put Spurs ahead.
Having previously been blocked on the overlap every time, he learned from his experience and, having been slide behind by Son, used his body to shield the ball from his marker and turned away from goal. The space he had created allowed him to play a weighted pass back to Bissouma, who stroked home the match winner gratefully. Spurs never looked back, neither did Udogie.
Bissouma rising to the challenge
Bissouma hasn't had the easiest start to the season. Suspended internally after off the pitch antics and a loss of his place in the side to Bentancur meant this was only the third time Bissouma found himself in the first eleven in this season's Premier League. His manager has spoken publicly of needed the Mali international to earn trust back and show that he can be disciplined.
Postecoglou will therefore be pleased with what he saw from Bissouma's first start since September 1st, with the talented midfielder putting in the yards for his entire time on the pitch to protect his defence and support the attack.
He took his goal calmly, and he sensed danger far better than he has done previously. Postecoglou will more than likely want to see more evidence, but having scored his second goal of the season and complemented his undoubted style with some substance, he has set the bar for what he needs to produce regularly if he is to keep his place in the side.
Beginning to come together
Ahead of the match there was a lot of questions around which Spurs side we would get. This was probably unfair as Spurs have pretty much produced the same performance all season so far besides one half against Brighton and the home defeat to bitter rivals Arsenal.
The results have been inconsistent mainly due to defensive errors, but the overall performances have been on the front foot, imaginative and proactive with the ball.
When it all clicks, Spurs win heavily. Manchester United, Brentford, Everton and now West Ham have all been dominated and defeated in the same manner, and with the injury list having eased up Postecoglou will hope for this to become the normal course of events.
That is not to say that there won't be further mishaps - this is a young side and Postecoglou will be the first to say his side is a work in progress.