'We've got to fight'

Robert Green has reminded his West Ham United team-mates that all is far from lost this season as Gianfranco Zola's team contemplate a Sunday trip to Everton.

Following Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Stoke City, the Hammers sit in 17th place in the Barclays Premier League with six fixtures remaining, with only goal difference separating them with Hull City, who have a game in hand.

While the situation may appear to be critical, Green knows things could be far worse. Three seasons ago, with the England goalkeeper between the posts, West Ham sat 19th and two points adrift of safety with six matches to go, before winning their final four games to finish 15th.

With that in mind, Green is not giving up. "Saturday was disappointing. Everyone put their all in, as you could see, the lads dragged themselves off the pitch. But perhaps, in front of goal, the creativity wasn't really there for us.

"We've got to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and get on with it. Worse things have happened. West Ham have been in worse positions at this point of the season. We've just got to dig in and fight and that's it.

"We got a response from the fans on Tuesday [after losing 3-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers]. It clearly wasn't good enough and we didn't have a leg to stand on and we rightly got told what they thought of it at the end of the game. Saturday wasn't the same. The reaction at the end was one of massive disappointment, but undeniably everyone had given everything."

Zola and his players have taken a short break to recharge their batteries ahead of the weekend trip to Goodison Park, and Green insists everyone inside the dressing room believes in their manager.

"He's a great man and a great manager and you could see on Saturday that it's not through want of trying.

"He's been hamstrung through the season with selection problems and players leaving and injuries and things like that and he's just putting out the teams that seem fit for the games, and it's up to us to put in the effort that we did on Saturday and to have the confidence to carry on playing and play more football in and around the final-third which, hopefully, will make the difference."