By Phil Haigh
28 Apr 2011 09:01:00
Jonathan Spector (Getty Images)
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Jonathan Spector believes that the current West Ham side has more quality than Alan Curbishley’s team which managed to avoid relegation on the final day of the season back in 2007.
The American was part of the squad that included Carlos Tevez and Yossi Benayoun four years ago, but is of the opinion that the Hammers’ squad now is better and can avoid the drop again.
Spector told the club’s official website: “It is a very different team from the one we had that stayed up four years ago.
“It is a strong team that we have right now, probably stronger than we had back then. It hasn’t happened for us this season but now we have to come together as a group and get some points.”
With just four games to go, West Ham sit bottom of the table and are two points from safety, but Spector believes that his team are capable of pulling away from trouble.
He continued: “They are massive games coming up and it is a big stage for us.
“There is certainly the added pressure of that Premier League status, which we definitely want to hang on to.
“Every player wants to play. There could be quite a few players who could have an important role and have a massive impact on the games we have left.
“There have been times when we have played really good football and a lot of people have been looking at us and saying: ‘They are too good to go down’. They were saying that about Newcastle a couple of seasons ago and we don’t want to repeat what they did.
“I am not sure there is a secret. It is about hard work and determination and the guts to want the ball, to want to play and to stick to your gameplan even if it is not going well for you.”
West Ham face fourth-placed Manchester City in their next match, before playing fellow strugglers Wigan and Blackburn and a final game against Sunderland.
Meanwhile, Spector’s team-mate Danny Gabbidon believes all four games, not just the final three, will be of huge importance.
He said: “The last three games will be big games. But every game from now on is big. We are not writing off Man City and thinking just the three after that as the more you lose the harder the next games becomes.
“And those games are hard as well as the teams are down the bottom and fighting for their lives as well.
“So we look to Man City and have to believe that we go there and get some points from that and if we do it will be a great confidence boost for the team going in and getting something there and that sets us up nicely for those three games.”
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Current West Ham team better than 2007 side that stayed in the Premier League – Jonathan Spector