Dailly Determined

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Christian Dailly is calling on his team mates to show true grit in the battle with Leicester City on Saturday.

The Hammers are out to protect the best home defensive record in the division, and knows it will be a physical game against the bottom club.

Christian reckons that the FA Cup victory last weekend at Macclesfield was proof positive that the team have added steel to their footballing reputation, and says: "We were quite professional about it; it was a real battle at times and we had to dig in with a lot of corners and free-kicks against us in the first half, and we had to throw our bodies in the way.

"Macclesfield deserve credit; they showed good fitness and resilience at times but we knew what it would be like and our mentality was good.

"The boys were as up for that as you could be for any game, so that's a good sign.

"It will be very tricky against Leicester, another battle as it was up there last time - we had to dig deep in that game and we will have to do the same again on Saturday.

"It's going to be hard and tough against a team fighting for their lives, and we have to combat that first before we play any football."

Christian was booked last week following the fracas that was sparked by John Moncur's tackle, the aftermath of which saw him sent off.

But Christian protests his innocence, and adds: "I was in a headlock and what do you do in that situation - you either throw a fist or you just leave it. I just left it and got booked anyway, and wondered what is the point.

"There are a lot of strange decisions going about these days but you just have to deal with it.

"I don't think Moncs' sending off was deserved - you can just have a word with people and they will calm down. It was not a nasty game anyway and it spoilt things.

"It happens in the game - you have melees, but the one thing from our point of view that I was pleased about was that all our team was in there, and that's important.

"We were all in saying 'no, we are not having that' and we showed that's what we are, a good team."

Christian insists everything is going in the right direction, and he adds: "We have had about six months with the new gaffer now and we are looking more and more solid.

"We try to look on it as a team thing. As a team we are getting better, we are showing more and more resilience and are working hard for each other - but we have got to keep it going right through the season and in the coming seasons."

As for the Paolo Di Canio situation, he says: "We'll just have to wait and see, we have no idea what is happening."