Danny Gabbidon is well aware of the threat posed by Blackburn Rovers as West Ham United prepare for a second tough away outing in a week.
Having been unlucky in a 1-0 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday, Alan Curbishley's side head to Ewood Park knowing they will need to add a cutting edge to defensive resilience. For the Wales centre-back, there was plenty to take from the Stamford Bridge showing. "Even when you lost you've got to try and take positives from it," said Gabbidon.
"There are a lot of positives we can take out of that game but when you're playing well you hope that you win so we're disappointed. But at the same time we're fairly happy with how we've done and all we can do now is move on to the next game and try and get three points."
An away victory would move mid-table West Ham United to within four points of eighth-placed Blackburn, but their league position and recent form under Mark Hughes suggests it will not be an easy task. "It'll be another tough one," the 28-year-old Gabbidon said. "They're doing really well. They play some good football, I've watched them a couple of times this season. It's another tough game."
Stern tests will become the norm over the coming weeks with four of the next six league matches against teams ranked in the top nine - while there are also home cup contests against Everton and Manchester City coming up. "Over the Christmas period the games come thick and fast. There are some tough ones but we can take a lot of confidence from the Chelsea game going to Blackburn.
"We'll look to put in the same amount of effort and hopefully get a couple of goals and get three points instead of playing well and not getting anything. When you play Chelsea you have to defend well at the back and I thought we did that pretty well. I thought it was a good team performance and we deserved the draw at least."
Against Chelsea, Gabbidon showed again that he and Matthew Upson are a formidable partnership. The 2005/06 Hammer of the Year is taking nothing for granted, however, with James Collins waiting and Anton Ferdinand recovering from a hamstring injury. "There's so much competition in the squad that I have to keep playing well to be in the team. That's the motivation for me because I know if I don't there are people knocking on the door."