Alan Curbishley is expecting Craig Bellamy and Bobby Zamora to be back in contention soon while there is also positive news on Kieron Dyer.
Bellamy and Zamora began the season as the focal point of the West Ham United attack and played the first four games together before injury problems began to take their toll. Because of knee trouble, Zamora has not figured since the 28 August trip to Bristol Rovers in the Carling Cup - when Dyer suffered his double leg break - while Bellamy last featured on 27 October at Portsmouth as a result of his abdominal injury.
Curbishley said: "Craig Bellamy is in full training and has been training very hard this week. Hopefully that will continue. He is looking sharper. He has obviously been out some time and we are holding him back a little bit. I should imagine that by next week he will be huffing and puffing for a game.
"Bobby Zamora is back out on the grass and happy as can be. It is quite amazing - he's been out four and a half months." The manager, who revealed Dyer was running again at the training ground, will not have either striker available for Sunday's league trip to Manchester City, with a similar selection expected to the one that narrowly lost there in midweek FA Cup action.
"We have got the same squad as we had on Wednesday. I don't think that is going to change for a couple of weeks. It may well change with Zamora and Bellamy and one or two others coming back." Curbishley added that the extra competition for Carlton Cole and Dean Ashton could only help and said he wanted to see a more clinical approach from the whole team in forward positions.
"[On Wednesday] we dominated for long periods but we didn't score. The back four or five have been terrific all season for us. Our defensive record stands up. I am just asking the other players now to help us out a bit. Give us something that we can hold on to. Because when we do get in that position, we do look a good side. We have got to take our chances.
"We haven't been prolific in the scoring stakes but we have been quite solid. I think the performance at Man City summed that up. We looked strong but we needed to take that opportunity and I am sure if we had taken it, Man City would have found it very difficult."
While the attack-minded trio of Bellamy, Zamora and Dyer are getting closer, the manager is due to have Nolberto Solano back soon while Julien Faubert is also pushing for his first start after two appearances off the bench. "The ones that have been missing are people that can unlock a few defences. But we have been in that situation all season so there is not much we can do about that.
"What I am going to say to the side, certainly the offensive players, is give us something a little bit more. Let's take our chances and be a little bit more clinical and we will see where that will take us.
"Our fans understand the position we find ourselves in. We invested heavily in the summer. People left the club, we replaced them but it has been unfortunate that we have not had a chance to see them. What it has done is show our fans that we have got a squad that can compete in this league."