Football: Lomas - Dailly can lift Irons

West Ham's Steve Lomas has hailed the arrival of Christian Dailly and believes he will give Upton Park a lift.

The Scot is set for his Irons debut at Charlton, after signing from Blackburn.

Lomas believes the presence of Dailly will help the defence to tighten up and cut out the mistakes that have cost them in recent matches.

"Christian's arrival has given everyone a lift, and he is obviously a good player or Harry wouldn't have bought him," said Lomas.

"If you are not creating up front then at least you want to be able to keep a clean sheet at the back. But we are still making individual errors at the back and it is a major concern.

"We let ourselves and the fans down last weekend by losing at home to Sunderland, but now we have a few winnable games coming up.

"We have a big game against Charlton, and we have to get back to being solid, as we have not been in the last three or four games."

Dailly is set to go straight into the Hammers defence at the Valley, as Stuart Pearce is suspended, Ian Pearce and Igor Stimac are injured, and Javier Margas has been forced to retire because of a knee injury.

Hammers boss Harry Redknapp has also brought in Metz wing-back Sebastien Schemmell on loan until the end of the season, so he may figure at the Valley too, especially as Trevor Sinclair is struggling with a swollen knee.

Midfielder Michael Carrick is hoping to return from a hamstring injury, having missed the Sunderland defeat.

West Ham have not beaten Charlton away since October 1957, so they will be hoping for a repeat of the scoreline on Boxing Day, when they won 5-0 at Upton Park.