West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce has insisted his side’s recent poor form has dragged them back into the battle to survive relegation from the Premier League.

The Hammers enjoyed a good run of form in February, winning four games from a possible four, and scoring ten goals in the process. The wins against the likes of Southampton and Swansea helped to ease many fears about relegation this season.

But their 2-0 loss at home to Manchester United on Saturday was their third in succession, and leaves them six points ahead of Sunderland in 18th place, who have two games in hand.

"We've put ourselves in a little bit of danger again, there's no doubt about that," Allardyce told the club's official website.

"In the two games we've got coming up we've got to make sure we perform like we did when we hit our good spell when we won four games on the trot."

Allardyce previously stated the he felt that the club needed to attain seven more points to be assured of survival, and then 38 points was a sufficient total to avoid relegation.

However he may be worried that from the remaining teams in their fixture list, West Ham have only managed five points from the corresponding eight fixtures this season.

The next two games for Allardyce’s men look to prove crucial, as they host 12th placed Hull tomorrow before travelling away to Sunderland next Monday.