It has been a difficult first four months of the season for West Ham, who are embarking on their first campaign in the London Stadium.

Slaven Bilic’s side have managed just three wins from their opening 15 league games, and find themselves just a point and a place above the bottom three.

The Croat changed his system slightly to incorporate a back three in October, and it paid dividends to begin with as they beat Crystal Palace and Sunderland 1-0.

However, things haven’t been so good since then, as they have lost three of their most recent six games, and only drawn the other three.

They were thumped 5-1 at home by Arsenal 11 days ago, but they did respond well with a decent performance in a 2-2 draw away at Liverpool last weekend.

Nonetheless, things need to improve at the London Stadium for the Hammers to pull away from the bottom three, and Bilic may already be thinking about potential transfer targets ahead of the window reopening in January.

And, with the African Cup of Nations starting in just over a month’s time, he could be tempted by some of Africa’s most talented players, so here are TWO he should keep an eye on next month…

Lamine Kone

West Ham have struggled defensively at times this season and, although they have improved somewhat since they went to a back three, they are still conceding a few too many goals.

Their tally of 31 is only one goal fewer than the worst defensive record, held by Hull, and it looks like Bilic sees Sunderland’s Lamine Kone as the answer to his issues.

The Ivorian international almost joined Everton in the summer, but pulled the plug on the deal to sign a new contract at the Stadium of Light, but now it looks the Hammers will attempt to meet his reported release clause in January.

Kone will be at the African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast next month, and it remains to be seen whether West Ham get a deal done before he joins up with the national team.

Yacine Brahimi

Yacine Brahimi’s excellent performances for Porto have alerted several clubs around Europe, one of which is West Ham.

The Algerian international has netted twice in his last two games for the Portuguese side, one in their win over Feirense at the weekend, and one in their 5-0 thumping of Premier League champions Leicester in the Champions League last week.

The 26-year-old has scored 24 goals since moving to Portugal in 2014, and has since attracted much interest across the continent.

West Ham look set to do battle with a whole host of clubs, including Arsenal and Manchester United, for the Algerian’s signature, and further good performances for Porto and at the African Cup of Nations for his country will only raise his stock further.