West Ham defender George McCartney believes the side need to work on grinding out results after their defeat at Southampton.

The Irons slipped five points behind the Championship leaders after their third loss of the campaign. Late defeats against Cardiff and Ipswich have been costly and the defender thinks they need to concentrate on taking points when they're not at their best.

McCartney said: "I think overall home and away we need to stop losing games and if anything just play for a point if we have to.

"We've certainly got the players in the team to go out and try and win every game. But it's a tough league and there are a lot of good teams.

"So if you come to places like this and don't think we'll win the game we have to try to stay solid as a team and at least take a point."

West Ham's next game is a difficult trip to Brighton on Monday night and McCartney has backed the team to bounce back from their latest disappointment.

He added: "After the Ipswich game coming off a defeat we bounced back and we have to do it again now. I think if you look at the next three or four games they are against teams in the top half of the table.

"They're going to be hard matches but we have to believe in ourselves, play with confidence and get a bit of consistent form going where we're winning or drawing games and at least we're getting something out of the match rather than getting nothing."