Niclas: No Offence

Niclas Alexandersson insists he has not 'snubbed' West Ham, as has been suggested, in not staying for another month at the club - but reveals the personal dilemma he had in returning to Everton.

"I have gone back up the road again to see if I can get any games up there - it will be hard, obviously, but as always I will keep trying my best and we will see.

"At the end the club actually wanted me to stay another month but because of the situation with my family and everything, and the stage of my career it is, I have been away a lot from the family over the years with international games and so on.

"I have not been able to see them much this month because I did not want to move them from the nursery up north.

"As it was for the short term I came down, but it was hard for me to do a second month under those circumstances, even though I have really enjoyed it football-wise and the club has been really great to me."

He feels West Ham will be promotion-bound if they can convert a higher percentage of their chances, and adds:

"I definitely think they can go back up - I just think we, sorry, they, need to take the chances.

"We haven't played well throughout a game but on Saturday we created enough chances to win the game anyway.

"As a team we haven't really performed up to Premiership standard yet but individually the talent is definitely there.

"And I am sure with a new manager coming in and working on a few things they will be up there or therabouts at the end of the season."

As for his last game at Upton Park, he says:

"I think, to be able to play well throughout a game, we need to score to get that confidence and we were a bit anxious I felt on Saturday - with two sloppy goals costing us two points."

Now he has to try and reclaim his place in the Everton side, and he adds:

"I will do my best - this is my last year up there so I will almost certainly be going back to Sweden after this season.

"I might finish with a year or two playing over there but time will tell that."