Upson gives Hammers boost

Posted Sunday, October 04, 2009 by PA

West Ham are set to welcome back England defender Matthew Upson in time for Sunday's Upton Park derby with Fulham.

The former Arsenal man missed the last two matches with a calf problem.

Midfielder Valon Behrami is also available again following a series of niggles.

Midfielder Jack Collison is out with a knee injury, however, and Mexican striker Guillermo Franco is still short of match fitness.

West Ham assistant manager Steve Clarke believes it is high time the Hammers kicked their annoying habit of playing well yet ending up with nothing to show for it.

Gianfranco Zola's side host fellow strugglers Fulham in the knowledge they will kick-off in the Barclays Premier League relegation zone.

Three successive league defeats against Wigan, Liverpool and Manchester City have put them there and they have also been beaten by Tottenham this term.

Clarke admitted Monday night's 3-1 loss at City had been especially hard to take as they had overcome a sticky start to give the world's richest club plenty to think about before succumbing to costly errors.

He said: "I was frustrated more than anything because I can see the talent we have in this group.

"Against Liverpool we also played very well and against Tottenham we almost came out on top.

"It becomes frustrating when you know you have an ability to win matches against really good teams and suddenly find you are losing them.

"But six games is too early to start pushing any panic buttons. In those six matches there have been a lot of good things to take from them. The only good things we haven't taken are the points.

"Hopefully in the next six we will take more than we did in the first six. We will start to climb the table and then we can assess where we are."

Brede Hangeland is expected to overcome an ankle injury to return to the heart of the Fulham defence.

Damien Duff's calf injury rules him out and Simon Davies remains a doubt as he continues to recover from his foot injury.

Pascal Zuberbuhler will return to the bench after being refused permission by UEFA to play in the Europa League against Basle, while fellow

goalkeeper David Stockdale (knee) misses out.

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson believes success in the Europa League could be key to ensuring his side's Premier League survival.

Fulham earned a creditable 1-0 win over Swiss side FC Basle on Thursday to move them to the top of Europa League Group B.

The Cottagers' strong start in Europe has not been mirrored by their league form, which has seen them struggle to just two wins - one of them against bottom side Portsmouth.

Some had claimed that the use of experimental line-ups during European matches had hindered the London side's domestic form, but Hodgson disagrees.

"We are pleased with how our European campaign is going," said Hodgson.

"We knew that this period would impact to a certain extent on our Premier League form and we have had to learn with these situations where we are playing a lot more football and people are being thrown into more games.

"If we can come through it as one of the top two teams in the group, that will make us a lot stronger come January and that might be a time when we need to come strong because that might be the time when the league starts to take shape."