West Ham defender Lars Jacobsen felt the team deserved a point at Arsenal and that things can only get better.

WEST HAM defender Lars Jacobsen is convinced that the team can get themselves out of Premier League relegation trouble, despite staying rock bottom of the table after a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal.

With the Hammers three points adrift at the foot of the division, the Denmark international right back is battling to stay positive.

“We have to be realistic – but in the last seven games, we only lost two of those, so it’s not that negative,” insisted the 31-year-old former Blackburn rovers and Everton defender.

“I know we lost against Arsenal and we lost the last home game and if you look just at them it’s very negative, but we have to look at the bigger picture – seven games and two losses, three wins and the rest of them were draws.

“We have to take the positives from now on because it’s not good if you’re thinking about the games you lost because you won’t take any points.

“You have to take the positives and look forward and we will do that.”

So how will manager Avram Grant react to another defeat for his team. Jacobsen confirms that it will be a measured, rather than a knee-jerk reaction.

“He will analyse the game and then we’ll know what we need to do better and what we did well,” explained the defender.

“He’s not the manager that will throw a bottle in your face if you lose a game! He’s a very talented manager who knows what he is doing.”

That’s good to know, though Jacobsen is experienced enough to know that it is the players themselves rather than the boss who must do most to turn things around.

“It’s why we are here and why some other players are not here,” he said. “Picking yourself up is the difference because you will always lose games in your career and always have ups and downs.

“If you can’t get up from the downs, you will never reach the level of playing in the Premier League.

“Of course we are professional football players. It’s our job, so we’ll get ourselves together and get the points we need.”

Jacobsen gave his all at the Emirates on Saturday and he felt that it was the West Ham plan that was winning the day.

“You could feel the Arsenal crowd was not happy, you could hear it,” he said. “Their players were not happy and the game developed the way we wanted really. We were just hoping we could pinch one on the counter attack.

“We kept them away from the big chances and ‘Greeny’ in the goal saved tremendously a couple of times. That’s the luck you need to have against a world-class team,” said Jacobson, who thought his team had earned a draw.

”As a team, coming to the Emirates is always difficult and I think we deserved a point in the end,” he insisted. “It’s the worst way to lose a game really. We defended very well throughout the game.

“Arsenal had a few chances to be fair, but we kept them to a low number and I think we did well.”

They did well, but again West Ham missed out on the points and Jacobson knows they need a result at Birmingham next Saturday.

“It’s always difficult away from home, but we need to get some points starting next weekend at Birmingham. We need to take some points there,” said the Dane.

“We fought for each other against Arsenal and that is something we have to take into the next couple of games as well because we know we can play football.

“Sometimes we haven’t fought enough, but we certainly did that against Arsenal and if we continue to do that, I’m sure the points will come.”