Tomkins confident of Hammers’ survival

JAMES TOMKINS believes the talent in the West Ham squad will propel the east Londoners away from the bottom three.

The Hammers brought in Gary O’Neil, Demba Ba, Wayne Bridge and Robbie Keane in the January transfer window to boost their hopes of survival.

The early signs are encouraging and the Hammers have lost only one of their last four, with Tomkins optimistic about the Hammers’ Premier League survival.

“It will be a tough task, don’t get me wrong, but with the talent we have in the dressing room we can stay up,” he said.

“I just think if we play the way we are and keeping the players together like we have, we have good team spirit, I think it’s possible. We know we can beat anybody if we play our best.”

Three points on Saturday will give West Ham their first back-to-back win in 39 attempts.

The Hammers beat Liverpool 3-1 at Upton Park and with the east Londoners just one point away from 17th place Wolverhampton Wanderers a win could see them move out of the relegation places for the first time since they beat Wolves on New Year’s Day.

“Obviously we have to back up these kinds of results we had today with another win. Three points is massive it can creep us up that table a bit more and hopefully away from the bottom three,” said Tomkins.

“Hopefully the fans can get behind us and we can get another win.”

West Ham will also need Tomkins and centre half partner Matthew Upson to be at their best against Stoke this Saturday at Upton Park.

The duo were immense against Liverpool last Sunday and with Potters’ renowned for their direct style of play, both are going to have to be strong once again.

“Physically I have come along a lot this season. I feel I am learning the game more and more and coming up against physical players. I’m enjoying playing at the moment and I am really looking forward to the game,” Tomkins said.

“I think me and Matty had good times this season together. I always enjoy playing with him. He’s really experienced and a good player to play with. Today we did really well and that goes for the whole back and really as a team we defended really well.”