The manager lamented the loss of Mark Noble as he looked ahead to the Birmingham City awayday on Saturday, and also said he was not worried about the club's failure to win on the road since the first day of the last Barclays Premier League season.
Avram on the owners' support…
"When people say bad things you ask me if I am worried and when people say nice things you ask me if I am worried too. I am concentrating on my job, I need to do my job. We share the same vision for the club and, as clubs like Arsenal show, you need to stick in the vision of the club in the good days and in the bad days. Today I cannot tell you that we are happy about being at the bottom of the league but this is only temporary.
Avram on the morale this week after losing out at Arsenal…
"You can see negative and positive things. If you saw the atmosphere in the dressing room after the match, everyone was very disappointed but the spirit was great. As a manager sometimes it's easier after a game like the one against Aston Villa that we didn't play well and lost.
"It was the only game that we didn't play well during some part of the game and the score was 3-0. It's not so good but is easier to analyse.
"A game like last week we can take a lot of positive things, the spirit was great, and I think everybody was expecting us to lose. They were in a very good shape. We needed to be a little bit more lucky, but it belongs to the past. We have to take all the positive things that have happened in the last two months and go forward.
Avram on 23 matches without winning away…
"It's difficult to play not only against the opponents but also against the statistics, but statistics are just statistics. But one of the things that we have to do is to take it as challenge and we are doing that. I am sure that we will win away games, I hope that happen at Birmingham and we will do everything for that. But Birmingham are a very good team and they are very good when they play at home. But this is football, so we need to think positive and anything can happen.
Avram on good time to play Birmingham...?
"I never know when it is a good time. I can tell you after the game if this is a good time to play against them! Everyone was saying that this was worst time to play against Arsenal in the last five years so you never know if it is a good time or a bad time. Birmingham are a good team, they are playing like a team. They have been playing together for a long time, you can see it on the pitch. They know what they want, so it will be difficult for us but also for them.
Avram on Mark Noble being out after his appendix operation…
"He has played very well and is a player that is easy to develop. Every game he has got better and better. He was in a good shape and in a good spirit. I like him as a person as well and of course we will miss him because he was one of my best players in the last two months. But this is a fact and we cannot fight against this, so we will play with other players that will give their best for the team.
"Kieron is back from injuries and when he was fit to play this season he played very well so we want to use him.
Avram on Matthew Upson being in the last year of his contract…
"For me what matters is if he is doing his job or not. Except in the beginning, he has been doing is job well in the last games that he played. Unfortunately he has been injured lately but what matters is if he is doing is job. The other things are normal, there are always negotiations between players and clubs, but I hope everything will be OK.
Avram on the lack of goals…
"We came here also to take points and to take this club forward. In the beginning of the season in the first four games we conceded three goals every game so we tried to improve that. Then we didn't score even one goal, now we scored three against Stoke for the Carling Cup.
"We want also to improve in these things and make some balance between defence and attack. If you see we are playing every game with attacking players that can score.
"The team is improving in the last two months. If you leave aside the match against Arsenal, we lost a match against Newcastle where we played very well in the beginning and not so good in the end. So we are trying to be more consistent. It is strange because we are at the bottom of the league but by the football side we are improving all the time.
Avram on the next three matches…
"I don't know if it's critical and it is very important for the season because we need to take some points and we have three games in one week but you need to take it one game at a time."