Robert Green expects West Ham United players and fans to pull together with the hope of seeing off Chelsea at the Boleyn Ground this Saturday.
Chelsea will head across the capital determined to put the pain of Carling Cup defeat behind them while Green and his team-mates will look to build on the 1-0 win at Fulham - secured in large part thanks to the goalkeeper's heroics just before Nolberto Solano's winning strike. The England goalkeeper expects the team to show the same resilience and form as in 2-1 and 1-0 home wins against Manchester United and Liverpool respectively this season.
"In true West Ham style it seems to be the games where we excel," he said. "They had a big game on Sunday and they have a big [Champions League] game on the Wednesday after our game and you know they won't be looking forward to coming to Upton Park. I don't think anyone ever does really. Between ourselves and the fans we can make it as intimidating as possible and really get stuck into them and make it a double over the west London clubs."
Solano's 87th-minute winner last weekend at Craven Cottage came just after Jimmy Bullard found himself bearing down on the West Ham United goal. He let fly for what looked like being the decisive moment when Green came to the rescue. "I was fortunate," he said. "It was one of them where I have made myself as big as possible and just managed to react as I am going down to where he has hit the shot. It is something I don't really think about and thankfully got a hand on it. We scored just after that so it was pleasing in what was a pretty terrible game."
Green's honest assessment of the derby was matched by his verdict on his overall performance, which he described as "scrappy" despite yet another clean sheet, adding: "It was very difficult to play in such a scratchy game. If you go on who played well in the whole game you are struggling to pick out one or two players really." That said, he added the result was the main thing especially as relegation candidates Fulham, like Wigan Athletic and Birmingham City previously, "were desperately keen not to lose" and had also beaten high-fliers Aston Villa in their previous home fixture.
It will be a different proposition against Chelsea, and Green knows it is just the beginning of a difficult spell that sees the club go to Liverpool on Wednesday and then Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday week. "Chelsea will be tough but we have got a tough few games coming ahead. We are looking up though and we can put a positive spin on the Fulham result. We have played better this season and not won. We created a lot of chances and on another day we would have taken them. It seems to be happening quite a lot this season."
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