Upson aggravated an Achilles injury during the Hammers' 1-0 defeat to Birmingham three weeks ago and it had been feared he would be out for the rest of the season. The club have received several different diagnoses on their captain's injury and it is still unclear when he will be fit to play again. Grant received some encouraging news on Friday, though, when Upson came through a light workout with the squad at Upton Park ahead of Sunday's home match against Liverpool. Upson is unlikely to be considered this weekend but Grant is hoping his star defender, and his other sidelined players like Robbie Keane, Jack Collison and Kieron Dyer, will be fit soon. "We don't know how long Matthew Upson will be out for," Grant said. "He trained today but it was not training with pressure so we will wait and see. "It's important when you get to the last few games that you have all your players available. "We need them back to create competition within the squad. "It's no secret that part of our problem this season has been injuries at the wrong time. "All the players we have out were good before they got injured so it hasn't been easy." The last time Liverpool and West Ham met the game was a disaster for the Hammers as they lost 3-0 to an out-of-form team under Roy Hodgson. After the match Hammers striker Carlton Cole slammed his team's "diabolical" performance and suggested Grant's poor tactics were the reason behind the defeat. The outburst almost led to the striker's departure in the transfer window but he and Grant have patched up their differences now, with Cole playing a leading part in the team's push for survival. West Ham were left rooted to the foot of the table following the November defeat, five points from safety, but they could move out of the bottom three with a win over Kenny Dalglish's side on Sunday. Grant believes the loss at Anfield was a pivotal moment in the club's season. "When we played there we had a lot of injuries but we still played poorly in every aspect of the game and Liverpool played well," Grant said. "There are good things we learned from this. From this game we played different and better. "We have not played like we did there since." Hodgson presided over Liverpool's worst start to a season in 57 years before Dalglish came in to galvanise the club when he took over last month. Dalglish enjoyed a stellar career at the Reds as a player and as a manager before returning for a second spell in charge and Grant is happy to see the Scot back in the game. "The results are better since he took over," Grant said. "They are playing good football now and getting results. "The first time I came to England in 1977 Liverpool bought him for £440,000. "People were saying: 'Why are we spending this amount money?' "Now you cannot buy the kit man for that price. "He was great player. I wish we could have a few of him here playing in English football today." Grant will give Thomas Hitzlsperger his first league start and is expected to continue with Winston Reid at centre-half if Upson does not recover. Reid spoke of his sadness this week at the deadly earthquake that rocked his native New Zealand but Grant has no qualms about playing him this weekend. "I spoke with him about it," the West Ham boss said. "His family is not from this area but of course when something like this happens in your country you can't be relaxed, but in training he was okay."
