West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce says key to their success this season was the board giving him time to get things in place.

The Hammers currently sit comfortably inside the top four.

"It's time isn't it?" he told the Daily Mail. "There's never enough in this game but we've had time to get things the way we want them here now.

"It's all down to recruitment... players, staff. The philosophy has been established, with staff who have been with us for a period of time, people who know what we are looking for.

"That enables players to come and settle into West Ham, and settle into life in London and focus on playing football. People look at our training ground and, yes, we are lacking in terms of facilities compared with some clubs. It's something the owners are planning to look at but I've always believed a facility never makes the player. The staff at a facility make the player.

"The big difference this season is the fact that we now have a wide array of players who score goals.

"We have pace in players like Sakho and Valencia but we have a huge range of players who can score goals for us. Stewart Downing has been excellent. Andy Carroll is back."