Hammers boss determined to stay in charge

They may be bottom of the table at Christmas, but West Ham boss Avram Grant is convinced the Hammers will stay up, with him in charge.

West Brom are the only team in the 18 years of Premier League football to survive the drop when propping up the rest come December 25 and rumours have circulated that the Israeli has only three games to save his job.

“We can do it (stay up) of course. We showed spirit, I’m sure we can we stay in the league. I’m not interested in history and statistics,” Grant said, keen to try and underplay the situation.

“We have a long way until end of the season our target is clear to stay in the league and we can do this if you see through the difficult times.

“Not at all, nobody has said this (three games to save his job) to me. I’m not worried about theses things I only care when I speak with the owners.”

And Grant claims that David Gold and David Sullivan’s only contact has been to discuss targets over the next month.

“We speak only how to make this team stronger in January. They are trying to do their best, we have a big debt, its not easy but we need to do the best for the team.

“Now we need to see the injury problems, some of the injuries isn’t the first one and well see what we can do. We want a strong squad.”

Grant was without Rob Green for the clash, while Valon Behrami and Zavon Hines were late withdrawals, with Behrami injured in the warm-up.

All three are set to return on Sunday to face Fulham and Grant is delighted to welcome back Green, who was unavailable last Saturday after undergoing an operation to remove a cyst on his hip.

“I hope so because he needed to come back Thursday because he had an operation,” he said.

“He could be back and play (last) Saturday, but he couldn’t.”