IT HAS been a season of contrasts for West Ham United. Results in continental competition have shown they are one of the best teams in Europe, and are now on the verge of reaching the Europa Conference League final.

Domestically, though, having finished the previous two campaigns in the top seven of the Premier League, this season they found themselves at the opposite end of the table, spending a worrying amount of time around the relegation zone.

West Ham’s performance in the Conference League is not just a one-off, either. It is a continuation of good form in Europe having reached the semifinals of last year’s Europe League. In the past two seasons, they have been one of England’s best representatives in Uefa competitions.

The Hammers have won 12 of their 13 games in the Conference League this season, with the only blip in an otherwise perfect record coming in a 1-1 draw away to Belgian side, Genk.

Though this is the third tier of European continental football, such winning streaks and unbeaten records do not come easy.

Teams can regularly slip up in one-off games in Europe, especially away from home, as seen in Chelsea’s Champions League group stage defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, and Arsenal’s loss to PSV in Eindhoven in the Europa League group stages.

West Ham managed to get past the likes of Sevilla and Lyon in the Europa League knockout rounds last season, which is no easy task.

In the semi-final loss to Eintracht Frankfurt, it felt like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, but that is something they can learn from this year in the latter stages of the Conference League.

There’s a good chance that one of this West Ham team’s star players, Declan Rice, will not be at the club next season. It might finally be time for him to move to a Champions League side after giving six years of service to the club. He seems determined to end with something to show for that service and a parting gift for supporters.

“I had the pleasure of captaining the side last year and obviously we lost in the semi-final to Frankfurt,” Rice said ahead of Thursday's first leg against AZ Alkmaar.

“I've been fortunate enough to play some finals for England and big matches, so I know what is required to go on and win.

“We have some great, top international players, who have won stuff, and it’s just about on the night. You can't get carried away with the occasion, you got to play your stuff.

“But we’re prepared for it, and let’s try and end the season strong.”

David Moyes’s side have got off to a better start in their semifinal this season, though they had to come from behind to win the first leg against AZ and take a 2-1 lead into next week’s second leg in the Netherlands.

It wasn't the best performance, though there were some encouraging signs and individual moments within the game from the likes of Lucas Paqueta and Said Benrahma that should convince West Ham they have the quality to win this tournament.

This quality, or at least the results from it, has not always been on show throughout this season. This is why West Ham have found themselves around the relegation zone, and at a few stages of this season, actually in the relegation zone.

But an improvement towards the end of the campaign, though interrupted by a recent blip of three losses in a row, has put them in a position where they can concentrate on the Conference League without having to worry too much about a relegation battle.

Last weekend’s win at home to Manchester United could not have come at a better time. It geared the London Stadium up for the home leg against AZ, and the resilience and momentum from that game were useful as they came back from a goal behind.

“I hugely believe we’ve got a big resilience here,” Moyes said after Thursday night’s win.

“I think we have it through the club I think we have it through the team, and we’ll need it.

“We’ve needed it with games we have in the Premier League. We’re just off a big win against Manchester United, and tonight we’ve won 2-1 in the first leg of a semi-final.

“So you’d have to say, that’s okay. But it’s cup competition. It doesn't really matter how you do it, the job is to get it done.

“We've not got it done yet. Far from it. We’ve got a big job to do next week.”

Relative to the player turnover at many Premier League teams, the current West Ham team has been fairly consistent and the starting XI’s are generally familiar.

There is quality in the first XI and a reasonable amount of depth, plus an obvious, high-level structure to the team built around the likes of Rice, Paqueta, Tomas Soucek, Jarrod Bowen, and potential game-changer Benrahma.

The departure of Rice will leave a big hole, but with some more clever recruitment, they should still be in a position to return to the top half of the Premier League again next season.

Regardless, it would be fitting for Rice and West Ham to end this era with a trophy to show for all the good work that has been done.

As one of the best English teams in Europe for the past two seasons, there is no reason why they can’t.