There were some raised eyebrows last week when David Moyes suggested the furore over Kurt Zouma’s mistreatment of his cat may have unified the West Ham squad.
The danger for West Ham was that the crisis inflicted on the club by Zouma, and the subsequent fall-out, could have a destabilising impact on their fight to secure the final Champions League spot.
But their late show of spirit against Leicester will offer them hope that Moyes might be right and that West Ham will be able to play through this storm.
There is no doubt the events of the last seven days have caused major disruption, and there may still be more to come, but Moyes is adamant it cannot distract from their remarkable campaign.
West Ham are having their best season in years. They sit fourth in the Premier League, are into the knockout stage of the Europa League and are into the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Craig Dawson’s 91st-minute goal earned them a point that it was hard to say they deserved against Leicester as they consolidated fourth place, moving a point ahead of Manchester United.
Had Dawson not saved the day in stoppage time then this largely dysfunctional performance would inevitably have been put down to a tumultuous week.
Moyes has described the Zouma video and the fall-out as like nothing he has ever seen in over 40 years in football.
There was another twist on Sunday when Zouma had to be pulled out of the West Ham team after feeling unwell in the warm-up at the King Power Stadium.
He was replaced by Issa Diop, who was excellent alongside Dawson in defence.
West Ham went ahead through Jarrod Bowen but allowed Leicester back in as they came from behind to lead 2-1.
The Hammers were well off their usual standard. Vladimir Coufal was given a torrid time by Harvey Barnes, Aaron Cresswell conceded a penalty for handball and was easily beaten in the air by Ricardo Pereira for the Foxes’ second, while Declan Rice struggled to get a grip of midfield with James Maddison and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall causing trouble in behind the captain.
West Ham may have been struggling, but the spirit instilled by Moyes remained and, especially after the introduction of Said Benrahma, they pushed until the end and were rewarded.
"I hope it is a really valuable point," said Moyes.
"I felt we gave Leicester a bit of a lift with our poor decisions, passing and choices of passes which led to a couple of corner kicks and giving them a chance to put some pressure [on].
"I think Leicester have been an unbelievable side and have some great players in their team so I do not think it is a bad result.
"Of course we would of we want to do everything to kick on and do everything that everybody wants us to keep up near the top four.
"We are going to try and squeeze every last drop out of them. We need to improve upon our form."
After a turbulent seven days, Moyes will be glad to have escaped last week with four points, this late draw following a 1-0 win over Watford last Tuesday.
Neither performance was convincing and Moyes knows they will need to improve on Saturday against a Newcastle side on the up under Eddie Howe.
West Ham may be struggling for their best form themselves, but with Tottenham and Manchester United faltering there remains a huge opportunity this season.
Only time will tell if things off the field will threaten what they can achieve on it.
