The Hammers face an almighty task to avoid relegation and will drop out of the Premier League if they fail to beat Wigan at the DW Stadium on Sunday. Manager Grant claims last season's three relegated teams - Burnley, Hull and Portsmouth - are a long way short of this season's crop of teams in danger. And the Israeli, who was in charge of Portsmouth last season, believes his West Ham team are better than Gianfranco Zola's side which finished 17th last term. "Since January we have had a better squad here than last year," he told The News of The World. "We just haven't taken points when we have been the better side. "If you see the performances generally I cannot say we are a bad team but I am the last man who can ignore results. "And you have to remember there is no Hull or Burnley and no teams that were under the threat of liquidation like Portsmouth, so the league is much stronger this time. "Last year the teams at the bottom were very weak. Look at where Hull and Burnley are now. They are not even fighting to get back into the Premier League." Although Grant admits co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold saved the club from financial meltdown, he feels the situation at West Ham is similar to his time at Pompey. Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to enter administration last season and Grant suggests he was unaware of how bad West Ham's finances were when he took the job. He said: "I thought we could stay in this league, which is the reason I came here. I believe in this club but it has been very difficult, there were a lot of financial problems. "The owners saved the club. It could have been the same situation as at Portsmouth. But the financial situation was not very good when I came here." Financial restrictions have not been the only problem for Grant, who has seen his fair share of injuries take its toll on his side's form. "We lost Thomas Hitzlsperger three days before the start of the season and then we lost almost all the midfield in the last few months," said Grant. "Hitzlsperger is back but everyone else has been absent. When we have had everybody, we have played very, very good football. "I don't want to make excuses but I want to see how other teams would cope, even at the top. "Last year Manchester United lost Wayne Rooney and lost the Championship because of it. We had a good run but then there was injury after injury."
