By Manuel Pellegrini’s own admission, West Ham United’s start to his maiden season in charge was ‘so bad’.
The Hammers lost their opening four Premier League matches, including home defeats by AFC Bournemouth and newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Since then, though, Pellegrini’s Irons have rallied, beating Everton, Manchester United and Burnley and losing just losing two of their last seven top-flight matches.
Victory at Huddersfield Town on Saturday would not just give Pellegrini back-to-back top-flight wins for the first time in his tenure, but also put his team within touching distance of the top ten going into the final international break of 2018.
After that, champions Manchester City visit London Stadium before the Hammers tackle four more fixtures against teams currently below them in the table.
The start was so bad that if you want to have a successful season you have to have a winning mentality and an ambitious target
Manuel Pellegrini
“This year we had a lot of different reasons why we didn't have back-to-back wins but this is the moment to do it,” said the manager.
“Now is the moment to try to recover from that bad start. We now have this part of the season to put that right. It's a matter of trust.
“The start was so bad that if you want to have a successful season you have to have a winning mentality and an ambitious target. I try to tell the players this every day.”
Huddersfield are also seeking consecutive victories themselves, having scored their first win of the season at the eleventh attempt by beating Burnley at the John Smith’s Stadium on Monday.
The Terriers may have lacked goals – they have scored just five in those eleven matches – Pellegrini says they will never lack for effort.
“It's the same [playing them after as win as after a defeat],” he observed. “They will have had time to recover and they will play with a lot of trust after this first win of the season.
"They are a team that plays in the same way. It doesn't matter who they play. If you go ten or eleven games without a win it is not easy to continue believing in what you are doing but this is a strong team that fights every ball as the last one.”