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Bruce urges Ferdinand to prove his worth Steve Bruce has urged Anton Ferdinand to follow the example of Danny Welbeck and seize his chance in a Sunderland shirt when the Black Cats host his former club West Ham on Sunday. Welbeck is currently keeping record signing Asamoah Gyan out of the team after scoring four goals in his last three games, but it is defence that is giving the Sunderland boss a real headache. First-choice centre-back pair Michael Turner and Titus Bramble suffered serious injuries within days of each other last month, and Bruce was angry at his side's defending as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat at struggling Wolves last weekend. Nedum Onuoha and Paulo Da Silva are both options in central defence but it is Ferdinand and Ghanaian John Mensah who are in pole position. Ferdinand cost #8million when he joined the Black Cats from West Ham in the summer of 2008 but he has figured only sporadically this season, and Bruce has challenged the 25-year-old to make the most of his opportunity. "Here's his chance," said the Sunderland boss. "He's been here a couple of years and it's about time he grabbed it. That's the challenge to him. "It's a bit like Danny Welbeck's done, coming into the team and giving me a huge, huge problem. I hope Anton can do that, too. "John Mensah needs a run of games as well. We all know what a talented player he is but we need them to step up to the plate. "I've still got Da Silva and the option of Onuoha, too. But they're the immediate ones, the challenge is there for Mensah and Ferdinand. "We were disappointed last week because defensively we were all over the place and gave away bad goals, which hasn't been us. That was us last year. "There's only Chelsea and Manchester United have kept more clean sheets and that was the reason for our success, we didn't give much away, we were hard to beat. It's cruel we've lost the two of them, I just hope we can overcome that." Bruce will be able to call upon Mensah against the Hammers despite the defender being forced off eight minutes from time at Wolves last week after receiving a blow to his shoulder, having returned from a dislocation of the joint ahead of schedule at Molineux. Fraizer Campbell remains on the sidelines but midfielder David Meyler is in contention for the first time this season after recovering from a serious knee injury. Sunderland will be hoping to get back to winning ways at the Stadium of Light against the Premier League's bottom side, but the Black Cats will certainly not be taking the Hammers lightly after their 4-0 win over Manchester United in the Carling Cup this week. Bruce said: "You look at West Ham's squad, they've got an England goalkeeper, an England centre-back, an England midfielder, an England centre-forward, so they've got good players. "We can't think we'll just show up and get the three points. They've had a great week and that will have helped them enormously. "We've only lost three games in 18 months at the Stadium of Light so I hope that continues." West Ham captain Scott Parker will return for the encounter having been struggling with a chest infection which forced him to watch the Carling Cup triumph over United in midweek from the bench. Avram Grant must decide whether to retain Parker's goalscoring replacement against United, Jonathan Spector, while cup-tied defender Lars Jacobsen returns. And Grant has urged his side to build on their recent mini-revival when they travel to the north-east. Cup victory aside, the Hammers won for just the second time in the Barclays Premier League this season when they beat relegation rivals Wigan 3-1 last weekend. Grant believes those wins have given the players a more positive outlook, even if they still prop up the table. But the former Chelsea boss does not want the momentum gained over the past week to be lost on Wearside. "I think it's about time that we won games," Grant said on the Hammers' official website. "We have always been on the edge of drawing or winning most of our games. In most of our games we were the better team, but you cannot take any points from being the better team, only if you score more goals." He added: "The key world in sport is 'next' so the next game is the most important. We have a very tough game in Sunderland and we want to take a good result there. "This is one of the most difficult games for every team to go to Sunderland. They are very good, especially at home, and have performed well."