WEST HAM boss Gianfranco Zola faces a stiff task against Bolton Wanderers this evening, as both he and the club hope to turn around appalling records at the Reebok Stadium.

The former Italian forward never won there during his playing career at Chelsea, while West Ham are winless in ten trips, having lost their last six meetings.

There will be no better time for the team to reverse that trend than this evening, as the Hammers will be desperate to get one over their fellow relegation rivals as they strive to climb out of the Premier League's bottom three.

Zola knows his side must start to pick up points sooner rather than later, after two successive defeats to Birmingham and Manchester United.

“For us every game has become tough, especially in this moment, so we must be really prepared to play tough games.

“Obviously it was tough to lose a game like Saturday's (against Birmingham). We didn't expect that but we are strong enough to cope with this.”

He added: “It would be very, very good to win at the Reebok for the first time.”

Goalkeeper Robert Green knows the importance of making ground against some of their closest rivals.

“I'm glad the game is coming. It's a game against another team that's down there and we've got to be looking at picking up points there.

“If we'd have won on Saturday we'd have gone somewhere like 12th or something crazy like that. That's the way the league is at the moment, but we've got to start picking up points.”

Zola will be without strikers Carlton Cole and Zavon Hines, while defender Matthew Upson will also miss the trip with a hamstring injury. Mark Noble is suspended after his red card at the weekend.