Alan Curbishley says West Ham United risk relegation if they sell off some of their best players next month.

The former Hammers manager is aware of talk that the club may sell the likes of Matthew Upson and Robert Green to balance the books.

Curbs said: "The team has been through a sticky patch but over the last three or four games Gianfranco has had a settled side which seems to pick itself.

"They have won one and drawn two games and kept clean sheets which people didn't expect.

"If they carry on with this and get a good run they could find themselves in the top 10 and even a place in Europe.

"Lose the next game and Spurs will go above them.

"They have a good spine in Green, Upson, Parker and Bellamy, the spine of a top-10 side. It's a decent squad, one which can hold its own in the Premier League and it makes no sense to break it up.

"I never really enjoyed a settled side. I always seemed to be fire-fighting and patching things up."