West Ham forward Victor Obinna last night revealed none of his relatives were even in the country – let alone at Upton Park – on Saturday.

WEST HAM manager Avram Grant will be banished to the stands for two vital games in the Barclays Premier League run-in after being found guilty of improper conduct relating to comments made about referee Mike Jones in the aftermath of the Hammers’ 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Stoke last month.

West Ham are investigating claims that the families of players Victor Obinna and Frederic Piquionne were racially abused by spectators at the weekend, it is understood.

Robbie Keane has spoken of his frustration at spending the last five weeks on the sidelines with a thigh injury.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis made four changes for the FA Cup quarter-final visit of West Ham as he sought revenge for last week’s Premier League defeat against the same opposition.

ROBBIE KEANE looks set to give Giovanni Trapattoni a major boost ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s crucial Euro 2012 qualifier with Macedonia after being named in the West Ham United squad for the FA Cup game with Stoke City tomorrow.

APRIL may be the cruellest month for those sides battling to stay in the Premier League, with some reaching the point of no return, but March is the month when we start to see the movers and shakers at the wrong end of the table.

West Ham 3 Stoke 0

Matthew Upson (Achilles) took part in a light training session today but is unlikely to be involved in West Ham’s game against Liverpool on Sunday.

AT half-time at The Hawthorns on Saturday, it appeared the Roy Hodgson effect was already being felt. At full-time, however, it was clear the Scott Parker effect had been even stronger, and could yet keep West Ham in the Premier League.

West Ham 0 Birmingham 1

West Ham manager Avram Grant believes his side are starting to show the attacking vibrancy and defensive fortitude to pull away from relegation danger.

ROBBIE KEANE struck a debut goal and Victor Obinna hit two more as West Ham climbed off the bottom of the Barclays Premier League last night.

Blackpool 1 West Ham 3

New signings Robbie Keane, Demba Ba and Gary O’Neil are all in contention to make their West Ham debuts at Blackpool tomorrow.

AVRAM GRANT saw his West Ham side squeeze through to an FA Cup fifth-round meeting with Burnley as new signing Robbie Keane looked on.

ROBBIE KEANE has never been afraid to take on a challenge, but he has a huge task on his hands if he wants to earn a permanent move to West Ham.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish has handed a rare start to central defender Martin Jiranek for tonight's Carling Cup semi-final second-leg clash with West Ham at St Andrew’s.

ALEX McLEISH wants to put all off-field issues to one side for at least 24 hours as Birmingham try to reach their first major Wembley final for 55 years.

STABILITY is about as rare as silverware at Upton Park but Avram Grant heads into this week with genuine hope of some of both.

West Ham midfielder Scott Parker will start tomorrow’s Barclays Premier League clash with Everton.

West Ham forward Victor Obinna is suspended after being sent off against Birmingham in the Carling Cup in midweek.

BLUNDERING Ben Foster may have saved Avram Grant’s job last night as 10-man West Ham survived a moment of madness from Victor Obinna to beat Birmingham in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final.

West Ham 2 Birmingham 1

West Ham 2 Barnsley 0

LEON BEST reminded Alan Pardew there is more than one striker on Tyneside as Newcastle dumped woeful West Ham deep into relegation mire.

Newcastle 5 West Ham 0

West Ham 1 Everton 1

Avram Grant is well aware of the statistic that only one club bottom of the Premier League at Christmas has survived – but is relishing the challenge of making West Ham the second.

Goalkeeper Robert Green could be back after recovering from a minor hip operation to give West Ham a boost for the St Stephen's Day trip to Fulham.

Robert Green, Victor Obinna and Valon Behrami are all expected to return to the West Ham squad for their crunch December 26 game at Fulham.

Westham 1 Man City 3

STEVE BRUCE generally provides the image of an affable Geordie, rather than a hitherto unseen master in the dark arts of footballing mind games, but clearly there is something more cerebral lurking beneath that avuncular exterior.

Sunderland 1 West Ham 0

RYAN GIGGS has warned Manchester United’s Carling Cup rookies they must show greater backbone if they are to succeed at Old Trafford.

Alex Ferguson was shocked by the manner of Manchester United's Carling Cup exit at Upton Park last night.

ALEX FERGUSON was hoping his latest batch of fledglings would go on to dominate the English game — but on the evidence of this display, they still need a long way to go before they challenge for major silverware.

West Ham 4 Man Utd 0

West Ham 3 Wigan Athletic 3

Avram Grant hopes this afternoon’s 3-1 victory over fellow strugglers Wigan is the start of better things to come for West Ham.

West Ham 3 Wigan 1

Liverpool 3 West Ham 0

Victor Obinna maintains West Ham’s time is coming – but would take a bad team performance if it meant three points.

West Ham 0 Blackpool 0