West Ham United FC

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• Manager:Avram Grant

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Hammers duo tipped to return

06 May 2008 - 08:27:10

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West Ham United's defensive duo Matthew Upson and Anton Ferdinand could be fit for Sunday's last match of the season against Aston Villa.

The pair have missed the last three games through injury, including Saturday's 4-1 defeat at Manchester United, but assistant manager Mervyn Day is confident they will be able to feature against Martin O'Neill's side.

He said: "Ferdinand was running on the pitch before the Manchester United game so we're hopeful that he might have a chance of being fit.

"Matty did some running on Friday, so we're hopeful, but we've been hopeful of a few of them for three or four weeks.

"Given the players we've used, asked to play out of position and do jobs they're not used to doing, the club has done very well to be in the top ten most of the season.

"If you turn it round to this time last year, with one game to go, and you said to West Ham fans you'll be tenth next year, no problems with relegation and have a solid season looking forward to the year after, most of them would have accepted that.

"For personal pride, it doesn't matter if it's Spurs or Newcastle, we want to finish in the top ten. That's been the goal ever since the start of the season. We wanted to be in the top half of the table.

"And if we achieve that given the amount of injuries we've had I think we'll have done reasonably well.

"Obviously we want to get all our players back and have a real go next year, but this year I think the players must take enormous credit for putting their all in and really grafting for us."