Zamora expects dramatic finish

Bobby Zamora believes West Ham's battle against the drop will go right to the wire.

The striker's fine goal at Upton Park saw The Hammers record their fourth win in six games and move to within three points of safety with three games left to play.

Fellow strugglers Wigan are next on the agenda in a crucial clash at the bottom of the table on Saturday, before Alan Curbishley's side host Bolton and then travel to Manchester United on the final day of the season.

Zamora believes the relegation battle will only intensify between now and the trip to Old Trafford, with Charlton, Sheffield United, Wigan and Fulham all within four points of The Hammers.

"It was such an important goal and, as the other results fell beautifully for us, we've given ourselves a real chance of staying up," said Zamora in The Sun.

"We still need to win at least two more matches and that's going to be the hard part.

"Our next game at Wigan is going to play a massive part in the final outcome, but if we work as hard as we did today it's definitely possible to go up there and win.

"We've done well to come this far because everyone had written us off after last month and it's a real achievement just to have given ourselves a chance.

"The other teams around us have some extremely hard games left and there are four teams just above us who will all be looking over their shoulders and worrying about the momentum we've built up.

"I don't think it's going to be settled until the last day so we've got to pick up as many points as possible before we go to Manchester United for our final game."

Zamora has impressed of late with five goals in his last seven appearances, and Hammers boss Curbishley has revealed that the striker has been performing despite a troublesome knee condition.

"We're just patching him up and sending him out there and he's done fantastically well," said Curbishley.

"He's got tendonitis in his knee and the crazy thing is that the anti-inflammatory tablets he's taking are causing problems with cramp.

"We're looking to change his medication to eradicate that. But he also took a couple of knocks as well today [Saturday]."