Avram Grant has revealed that he wants to keep Matthew Upson at the club. Grant was positive about skipper Upson and has urged the former Arsenal man to commit his future to West Ham.

"We will see when he comes back of course, but we want Matty Upson to stay at the club," he said.

"I think any club, but especially a club like West Ham, needs to do everything they can to keep a player like Matthew Upson. He is a good player and a good person and so we will do everything to get him to stay at the club.

"But also the West Ham fans deserve to have a player who wants to play for the club and I want only players who want to play because I think we have a great future at this club.

"It will be good for us and it will be good for the players and of course Matty is one of them."

David Sullivan admits West Ham may struggle to retain the services of Matthew Upson this summer.

The Hammers have tabled a new three-year contract to the England international, but he is yet to put pen to paper.

He is keen to keep his options open until after this summer's World Cup, with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City reported to have expressed an interest.

West Ham co-owner Sullivan accepts that every player must want to better themselves at all times and is well aware of the mounting interest from afar.

West Ham United defender Matthew Upson is confident they have too much quality to be relegated.

Regardless of what their rivals do, captain Upson believes the Hammers will pick up enough points from their remaining three matches to safeguard their top-flight status.

"It was a disappointing performance on Monday," the England centre-back told whufc.com. "Liverpool played pretty well but we were quite disappointed after the last couple of games.

"I thought we didn't react quickly enough to situations defensively, which cost us really. Once you go behind at Anfield at the moment, they keep the ball so well and create space and move the ball so well and it's very difficult to get a grip of the game.

"I thought we had a couple of little decent chances in the second half when Franco came on and made a difference. He slid a couple of little balls through that looked decent, but we didn't particularly threaten and it made it a long evening for us.

"I don't think defeat has jolted the confidence because we know what's at stake on Saturday and I think it's going to be a survival match. Everything else goes out of the window at that point and the intensity we need to play with and how we're going to go about getting the points are all that matters. We'll have to be fully committed and do our jobs properly to get the points."

The Football Association have charged Stoke City defender Robert Huth with violent conduct following an off-the-ball incident with West Ham's Matthew Upson on Saturday.

Matthew Upson receives treatment as Robert Huth looks on sheepishly.

Huth appeared to strike Upson with his arm when the two tussled at a free-kick and the Hammers defender required treatment on a cut above his eye which had been reopened.

The incident was missed by referee Martin Atkinson but after watching video evidence he appears to have indicated to the FA that he would have dismissed Huth had he been watching.

"Stoke City defender Robert Huth has been charged with violent conduct," read an FA statement. "The charge relates to an incident involving Huth and West Ham defender Matthew Upson during the Premier League match on Saturday 17 October.

"Huth has until 6pm on Tuesday 20 October to respond to the charge. A Regulatory Commission will consider the charge on Thursday 22 October."

Huth could be facing a three-match ban if found guilty, potentially ruling him out of the upcoming Premier League fixtures against Tottenham, Wolves and Hull.

WEST HAM players Robert Green and Matthew Upson have been selected for England to face Brazil in a mouth-watering friendly match on Saturday.

The goalkeeper and defender have been regular choices for Three Lions boss Fabio Capello and they will be hoping to get a taste of the action against the world's number one team.

Striker Carlton Cole has been left out of the squad due to a hamstring injury suffered in the 2-1 victory over Aston Villa last week.

The match will be played in Doha, Qatar on Saturday evening.

STOKE striker James Beattie dished out a beating – but it was heavyweight stopper Matthew Upson who was left on the canvas.

Upson embarrassingly missed a tackle in the build- up to Beattie’s winning goal. But just as painful was the right hook Robert Huth landed on the defender as the Hammers suffered another Premier League KO.

Upson had earlier cancelled out Beattie’s penalty opener to give Gianfranco Zola’s men hope of ending their winless run.

That ended once their skipper was put on his backside by Huth’s mighty blow that knocked the stuffi ng out of Upson and his Hammers side.

Referee Martin Atkinson missed the incident as players lined up for a free-kick but Huth is unlikely to get away with his thuggery after TV evidence.

West Ham captain Matt Upson last night promised Gianfranco Zola will come through the ultimate test of his managerial career.

Under-pressure Zola is stuck second from bottom in the Premier League after a nightmare start to the campaign.

But England defender Upson says West Ham’s battling draw against Arsenal on Sunday shows that all of his team-mates are determined to turn things around for their manager.

Upson said: “Everyone is behind the manager. We have been penalised for every half mistake we have made this season and it has cost us.

Manager Arsène Wenger has admitted that he considered making a bid for former defender Matthew Upson.

When the Englishman was at the North London club, there were high hopes that he would make the grade and perhaps even be a future Arsenal and England captain, but injury set his career back several times.

He eventually moved to London rivals West Ham and has made a name for himself there. It is when Upson rediscovered his club form, that Wenger considered making a move for his former player.

Wenger said: "I knew when he left that he will make a big career but at that moment when Matthew was here, he was impatient.

"That I could understand as well because I bought him at Luton and after a few years he didn't play here.

"I didn't stop him [going] because I knew he had qualities to play in the Premier League but he had players in front of him that stopped him.

"I knew he would [make it]. He had Premier League quality and had the potential to be international quality.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists he always knew defender Matthew Upson would make the grade in the Premier League.

Wenger signed the youngster from Luton in 1997, but he found first-team chances hard to come behind the likes of Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown.

Upson had made 35 Premier League appearances for the Gunners, including 20 starts, when he finally moved on to Birmingham in January 2003 for an initial fee of just £1million.

West Ham paid a whopping £7.5million for Upson four years later and Wenger has conceded that he always believed the talented defender would make the grade at Premier League level.

Wenger admits with first-team chances hard to come by at Arsenal it was only right to allow him to leave the club and grow and develop as a player elsewhere.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists he always knew defender Matthew Upson would make the grade in the Premier League.

Wenger signed the youngster from Luton in 1997, but he found first-team chances hard to come behind the likes of Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown.

Upson had made 35 Premier League appearances for the Gunners, including 20 starts, when he finally moved on to Birmingham in January 2003 for an initial fee of just £1million.

West Ham paid a whopping £7.5million for Upson four years later and Wenger has conceded that he always believed the talented defender would make the grade at Premier League level.

Wenger admits with first-team chances hard to come by at Arsenal it was only right to allow him to leave the club and grow and develop as a player elsewhere.