GRAEME Souness today backed relegation-haunted West Ham to win their battle against the drop - but not before Rovers try to plunge them into deeper trouble at Upton Park tonight.

Rovers head for the capital hoping to become the latest side to turn up the heat on Glenn Roeder.

But, amazingly, the under-fire Hammers boss has found an unlikely ally in Souness who insists the former Burnley coach has what it takes to keep his team in the top-flight.

"All I know is the West Ham team we are playing tonight will be difficult opposition because they've received a lot of criticism recently and that makes them a dangerous animal," said Souness.

"At the end of the day, they are professionals, I believe they've got good players there, and it's my belief that they will not be in the First Division next season.

"I believe they'll still be in the Premier League because I always think that quality eventually comes through.

"It might take a bit longer than they would hope but they've got the quality and that's why, sooner or later, they are going to get it right.

"So I don't think we could be going there at a worse time.

"They had a bad result on Sunday, they've not won at home this year in the league, and it all points to a very difficult game for us because they're going to beat someone sooner or later."

Roeder has taken the brunt of the criticism for the Hammers' current predicament and Sunday's 6-0 thumping against Manchester United at Old Trafford did little to improve his tarnished image in the eyes of supporters.

But Souness has been impressed with the way his counterpart has handled all the flak which has been flying his way and he believes he will come out stronger as a result of the whole experience.

"I don't know Glenn personally but he would appear to be a correct human being and he's handling a very, very difficult situation very well," said the Rovers boss.

"You wouldn't want anyone to be experiencing what he's going through right now and it's not just him, it's his family, his mates and his kids who have to go to school who'll be suffering.

"Management can be a lonely business at times but I think in life the blows you take along the way shape whatever character you are at the end of it.

"So he might not think it now, but he'll be richer for it in the long run."

In the meantime, Souness has his own problems to address, such as a leaky defence.

Saturday's six-goal thriller with Sunderland at Ewood once again underlined Rovers' defensive frailties and the manager is working hard to find a solution.

"We were poor defensively on Saturday so that's something we have to address," said Souness.

"We can't play football like that because, for a manager, there's nothing worse than defending badly.

"We all know how hard it is to create and score goals but defending is the easiest part of football and we were poor at that so I can understand the frustration felt by players like Andy Cole.

"We went over the goals on video yesterday and all the players accepted that we weren't very good."

Souness must plot the Hammers' downfall without the services of Craig Short who suffered a recurrence of his calf injury in training on Sunday.

David Dunn is also absent after damaging his hamstring in the closing stages of the Sunderland game.

But Garry Flitcroft and Jay McEveley are now back in contention and John Curtis has also been added to the squad.

Rovers will choose from: Friedel, Neill, McEveley, Taylor, Todd, Flitcroft, Thompson, Tugay, Yorke, Cole, Gillespie, Ostenstad, Jansen, Johansson, Douglas, Curtis, Robinson.