Craig Bellamy has pledged to come back firing on all cylinders for West Ham United after his "best pre-season ever".
The in-form striker has been flying in pre-season with five goals. However, he had to come off after 23 minutes against Ipswich Town on Monday and, after receiving the results of a scan, looks likely to be out for a month. "I just pulled up in the match, I wasn't feeling tight beforehand or anything like that," he said.
"I have been fit and well throughout the pre-season," he said. "So this was not anything that had affected me before at all. It is just one of those things that happened in the match and now I will be just concentrating on getting through it and coming back strong and well to do my best for West Ham. I am out for a month and so it is gutting for me not to be able to start the season, especially as I have had a great pre-season and worked really hard.
"But it won't affect me too much in terms of working through the rehabilitation for this injury and to get back better than before again. I have probably had the best pre-season ever and I think I have shown that I proved my point in that I totally recovered from my injury last year and have returned fitter and stronger like I said I would.
"I have been looking forward to this season with West Ham so much, one of the most I have looked forward to. I wanted to hit the ground running and make an immediate impact. I have done this in pre-season, and was looking to carry this into the start of the new season, but I will just have to wait a bit now to do this. But I am making sure I am working as hard as possible in getting over the injury and will come back better and stronger than before to play my part in the team."