West Ham defender Angelo Ogbonna says the club has turned its toxic atmosphere around from three years ago, despite the fear of relegation looming large this season.
The 34-year-old defender has made 226 appearances across eight years at the club, which has seen him emerge as a vice captain, survive a relegation scare in the 2019/20 season, overcome a nine-month cruciate ligament injury to now competing for a European trophy.
Ogbonna believes West Ham's shortcomings this season are due to the club going through a 'transition' period, where the defender makes a comparison to Jurgen Klopp's early stages in charge at Liverpool.
'I remember three years ago at this moment, the atmosphere was even more toxic,' Ogbonna said.
'But even though we are in kind of the same situation, the atmosphere is more positive than it was.
'But I think it's a transition moment. Every club has this kind of thing. Even Klopp [at Liverpool] had to wait four or five years to win something.
'At the beginning even he was struggling because he brought in new players and the system wasn't right.
'The new players hadn't played in the Premier League, one of the top leagues. It's normal that you have to go through this.'
The Italian defender acknowledges expectations have increased dramatically due to the club's recent success in European competition.
West Ham are in a good position to reach their second European semi final in as many seasons following Thursday's draw in Ghent in the Europa Conference League.
Victories over Lyon and Sevilla on route to Europa League semis last season ramped up expectation and placed greater demand on the Hammers to perform on the biggest stage.
'Everything comes from expectation,' Ogbonna claimed.
'For two years we played in Europe. The way we started in the league, a little bit sloppy, and then carried on, the fans expected more.
'Maybe they were expecting us to go to the Champions League because of the money we spent and the things we did.'
Indeed, West Ham are the third highest spenders in the Premier League this season, splashing out £183m on 10 new signings.
Ogbonna believes inflated transfer fees can lead to force pretence and, in West Ham's case, adaptation to new surroundings can take longer than expected.
'It doesn't shock me to be honest, because the players… these days, the market lies sometimes,' he continued.
'The price of the market is very high. We say, 'Oh, we spent £200million, we need to do something important'.
'But the market is the market and it's totally different to the value of the player.
'When you have changes of course you go through a lot of difficulties and difficulties means adaptation.
'Most of the players, they didn't play in the Premier League, it's about the understanding of the players.'
Ogbonna is expected to be at the heart of the West Ham defence today as league leaders Arsenal make the short trip across the capital looking to maintain their advantage.