West Ham boss Glenn Roeder bids to steer his side clear of the bottom three for the first time since November 10 when they face Liverpool on Sunday (2pm).

But he goes into the game treading a fine line between confidence and over-exuberance after the joyful scenes which greeted Wednesday night's home win over Blackburn.

That made it lucky 13 for the Hammers, after six defeats and six draws in Premier games at the Boleyn, but Roeder warned his players not to get carried away.

"We were straight back into training yesterday and we have had to get straight back to the grindstone," he said.

"If any of the players aren't behaving in the way we would expect today and tomorrow they will be brought sharply back down to Earth.

"There is still a long way to go this season and we have a lot of hard games ahead."

Paolo Di Canio and Fredi Kanoute both played a part on Wednesday, and Tomas Repka returned from a four-match ban.

With no new injury worries reported, West Ham are likely to field a similar line-up again, with Edouard Cisse or Don Hutchison coming in for Lomas.

Published Friday, January 31, 2003

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