Popular football parlance has it that the sign of a good team is one that doesn’t play well but still finds a way to win. If true, Slaven Bilic should be pleased with the his team’s 1-0 win over Sunderland at the Boleyn on Saturday.

Sam Allardyce's return to Upton Park meant there was only two ways this encounter would go.

Either the match would reflect the Hammers' impressive home form and the team from east London would win convincingly to put more pressure on Big Sam’s claim he’d never been relegated.

Or Allardyce would use all his undoubted nous, pack the midfield, throw up one of those obdurate defences that so annoyed a portion of the Hammers faithful and come away with an away win to aid the Black Cats' survival hopes.

As so often happens in football, though, neither really occurred.

With former Iron Jermain Defoe electing not to add to his impressive tally against his former employers.

Meanwhile, Adrian was in fine form in the Hammers’ goal and Bilic’s team came away with a narrow win almost in spite of themselves.

The Black Cats spurned many good chances to get level and the ex-Hammers boss looked understandably downbeat at the end of the game.

The sound of the home supporters whistling anxiously for the final whistle, as they did so often under Allardyce, was an irony lost on no-one.

It’s true no team plays to their maximum every week and – to utilise another football cliché – all Bilic can do is line the team up to the best of his ability and take each game as it comes.

Saturday was a fine example of how difficult it must be for a manager to cover every eventuality.

In the 5-1 FA Cup mauling of Blackburn Rovers. Dimitri Payet and Emmanuel Emenike had been almost unplayable – it would have been madness to leave either out of the team the following week.

Against Sunderland, though, both had quiet games and it was no surprise when Emenike was replaced by Andy Carroll after an hour.

When the Nigerian left the field it would have been the first time many would have noticed he was even playing.

Conversely, Michail Antonio's form has been outstanding in recent weeks.

Here was a man who couldn’t get a game for most of the season and rumours abounded he have may well have been off.

Nobody would have wanted the injuries that beset the Hammers just before Christmas but, just for once, a player given an opportunity he may not have naturally been given took it and went to another level.

It’s hard to imagine Antonio out of the team now.