West Ham captain Matt Upson should be fit enough to face his former side Birmingham City at St Andrews this Saturday

West Ham captain Matt Upson should be fit enough to face his former side Birmingham City at St Andrews this Saturday.

The Hammers have conceded a staggering seven goals in the two games since the England international has been missing with a hamstring injury he picked up in training.

And with a crucial period of the season ahead, Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola and fans alike will be delighted to see his return to the line-up.

Upson has been one of the Hammers' most consistent performers this campaign and is widely regarded as third-choice centre half for England.

"He has been at training all week and he is looking good for Saturday," a club spokesman told the Advertiser.

"Rob Green seems to have recovered from his illness he had on Saturday and both he and Mark Noble have been training. Zavon Hines is out though with a knee injury, but we are yet to know the extent of the damage."

One Hammers player who is certainly looking forward to the game is James Tomkins, who was recalled to the starting line-up for the 4-0 loss against Manchester United.

"It's a big game, playing Birmingham," he said.

"But we're going to go up there full of confidence and hopefully get the three points.

"I don't think there's too much to worry about. We're a good team and we've got plenty of good players here and good characters to get us out of the trouble we're in.

"We're letting in a lot of goals, which we're trying to work on.

"Defensively it's little things that are costing us goals and we're not getting the rub of the green as well. I think it's a number of things.

"The main thing is to look forward to the next game and keep working hard in training.