Ilan doing well

Ilan has spoken about his happiness at his goalscoring form for West Ham United and echoed the togetherness in the camp.

The Brazilian forward struck the crucial winning goal against Sunderland on Saturday to go with his late equaliser the week before against Everton.

Things are going well for him and speaking at Chadwell Heath, the 29-year-old stressed he was fully committed to the cause - contrary to certain reports suggesting otherwise. He said he had only spoken positively about his life at West Ham since joining from AS Saint-Etienne in February.

"I was really shocked when someone in France asked me about the quotes," he said. "I expected something like that - I'm a foreign player here, I've scored a couple of goals, so it's a good moment to come up with something and cause some mischief.

"I have spoken to Gianfranco Zola and there is no problem. He's a great person and really cool, you can speak to him whenever you need to. I spoke to the players and they're fine - they've seen this kind of thing before. We are really strong together as a group.

"The important thing right now is we are together as a group, we're in the same boat and we're confident we'll get out of trouble.

"The manager is very open and you can talk to him about anything. There's no need to explain his career but it is easy to speak to him because he knows straight away what a player feels."

Ilan said the mood at the training ground was positive, with everyone pulling in the same direction. "We really needed the win and to get the goal, I was really happy," he said. "Of course, it was a very important goal.

"We needed the points and we had to give something back to the supporters so it could not have come at a better moment. It's all I could have asked for - to get a goal and a home win."

He is particularly happy to be playing alongside Carlton Cole, who has himself paid tribute to Ilan's forward play. "He's the type of player who complements me - he is big, he's strong, he does a fantastic job up front.

"I try to follow him, to pick up the second ball. At half-time he said to me, 'Get behind me, I'll give you some knock-downs'. Five minutes later we linked up for the goal, he won the header and I scored."

Having agreed a short-term contract with an option for a further season, it remains to be seen what the future holds. Like all of his colleagues, the only aim is to get survival assured and then think about the next steps.

"We've produced a good performance at Everton and got a home victory. We've got some momentum, we're more together, more confident about getting out of this situation.

"I will do everything I can to help West Ham and then when the season is over we will sit down and talk about the future.

"Frankly, I am really positive. We think we can get out of it. As I said the way we have played has given us more belief and confidence and if we can get a draw at Liverpool, that would be great and set us up for the last couple of home games. We should aim for a point at least at Liverpool - I think we're capable of getting that."