West Ham manager Avram Grant: ‘We must and can beat Wigan if we are to stay up’

EPL, West Ham United v Blackburn Rovers, Avram Grant and Steve Kean

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West Ham boss Avram Grant has believes his side can still beat the drop this season, despite only managing a point in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers at Upton Park.

The away side took an early lead when Jason Roberts’ tapped home a Brett Emerton cross after 12 minutes – the eleventh goal the Hammer’s have conceded this season in the opening fifteen minutes of games.

Yet Thomas Hitzlsperger’s equalizer ten minutes from time handed Grant’s side a lifeline in the relegation battle, something the Israeli hopes his men can take advantage of in next week’s clash away to Wigan.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Grant said: “Maybe this is the story of our season. If you look at all the games we lose again and again in the last 10 minutes, at least we drew 1-1.

“I think yes, we have a chance to stay up of course, but first we need to win against Wigan. If we get maybe one or two goals we can do it.

“Wigan is the most important game, we need to win. I know they also want to win and they’re playing home which will make it diffcult.

“Depends on other results as to whether West Ham can stay up, so we need to see if other results are as we want it to be.

“We have to win against Wigan and I think we can do it.”

Grant saw his side make a late surge to grab all three points at the and looked certain to have snatched a winner only for Robbie Keane to scuff wide Frederic Piquionne’s cross with two minutes left to play, a miss which exasperated his manager.

The 59-year-old continued: “I think that although Keane and others missed today, they want to score, but they didn’t score. I wish I knew why.

“Keane has intelligent movement, we saw that against Chelsea, but at the end of the day what counts is putting ball in the back of the day.

“In most of the games, but not all games, but especially today, the team puts a lot of effort into their performance.”

The former Chelsea and Portsmouth manager chose not to question the quality of his side, still believing they are good enough to compete in the top-flight, instead lamenting the injuries which have hampered his midfield in particular.

 “When we had a good run it was Mark Noble, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Gary O’Neill and Scott Parker in midfield. Now three out of four are not playing.

“Other players did well though, but of course it’s better to play with those four.”

Whilst Parker was once again missing from the West Ham starting XI with an Achilles problem still sidelining the England international, Grant was left to rue the 30-year-old’s absence after the game.

Asked as to when he expects Parker to return to fitness, Grant said: “I don’t know, we didn’t think it was such a bad injury, he has been missing since Manchester United.

“We want him to play, and I say again, there is no-one more than me who wants him to play. He is more than a player for me.”