West Ham United defender Guy Demel is determined to win back his place from Joey O'Brien.

With West Ham moving up to sixth in the table, manager Sam Allardyce is unlikely to make too many changes for the next home game against Stoke and Demel knows he will need to be patient.

Demel said: "What is important is the team, so it doesn't really matter who plays. I am happy that the players in my position in the couple of games I missed did really well.

"It is good to have competition in the team and now I am just looking to get back to my best form and give my best when the coach and the team need me.

"It is always better to come back into a team that is winning, rather than come back in a team that is struggling.

"I tore my hernia, so I had to have an operation two weeks ago. After a couple of days we started the rehab and everything went really well.

"Last week was my first back in training and I got the opportunity to play 20 minutes, so I was very happy, though I need a couple more games to get back to my top form."