Hammers boss has faith that side will continue to improve

West Ham boss Avram Grant insists confidence is high as the East End side prepares to do battle with fierce rivals Tottenham at Upton Park this Saturday.

In their biggest game of the season so far, the Hammers take on an injury-ravaged Spurs, who were soundly beaten by north London neighbours Arsenal 4-1 in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

In contrast, West Ham produced an impressive 2-1 win at Sunderland in their first away win since the opening day of last season, with Frederic Piquionne and Victor Obinna on target.

Grant’s side still prop up the Premier League table after collecting just one point so far, but the boss insists the club are in a false position and is confident ahead of Saturday’s clash.

“I am very optimistic about the future of this club. We know what we are doing, we have a vision about this club and I am optimistic about it,” he said.

“If you have seen our games, this is not the place for us (bottom of the table), but we need to take points. We have a long, long season. I think it will be very hard, but it will be possible. But it is very frustrating when we play so well but don’t take three points.

“After so many games from which we took zero points and we have played well, except in the first game - we played well against Bolton, we played well against Chelsea - it is good for the players to see that if we continue to do the right things, we can get results.”

The Hammers have been helped by an increase in firepower of late, with new signing Victor Obinna adding a new energy to the forward-line.

The player on loan from Inter has made an impressive start to his career in England, scoring his debut goal on Tuesday, along with strike partner Piquionne and the pair will need to again be at their best on Saturday for Spurs.

Grant has backed the pair and their teammates to do just that in this high-profile encounter on the back of Tuesday’s impressive showing.

“They worked very hard, they moved very well and they played well together - but all the team behind them played well,” he said.

“We passed the ball very well in the midfield so it was more easy for them to find space to score two fantastic goals.

“We want to play always with the same style, this is our target. If you saw our last games, except the first one against Aston Villa, we have been playing the same all the time.”