Davenport heading for exit door as Zola trims squad

Calum Davenport looks likely to leave West Ham during the transfer window as manager Gianfranco Zola trims both his squad and club's wage bill.

Defender Davenport, who almost went to Watford last season before a serious neck injury ended his season prematurely, had played in West Ham's last three Premier League matches following an injury to James Collins.

The former Tottenham player, one of the club's bigger wage earners, is reported to have reacted badly to being left out of the win over Stoke yesterday and now looks likely to be leaving.

Lee Bowyer, Matthew Etherington and Luis Boa Morte are three other fringe players who Zola could be tempted to sell next month but the West Ham boss wants to keep his top stars, including Scott Parker and Craig Bellamy, both of whom are targets for Manchester City.

"The commitment is to try to improve this team, so we're going to try to keep all our best players," said Zola.

"Maybe if we need to improve certain parts of the team we will try and do that. Everybody here wants to take this team to a better level. It's not easy because we have very good players and there are big teams looking for good players but the club have told me it's no problem."

West Ham's six points from their two matches over Christmas, at Portsmouth and at home against Stoke, has lifted them to tenth spot in the Premier League table with 25 points compared to the same stage last season, when they were also in tenth place but with four more points.

West Ham's first home win for more than three months came courtesy of a goal two minutes from time by substitute Diego Tristan.

Carlton Cole, who had cancelled out Abdoulaye Faye's early goal just after half-time, shot from six yards and it deflected off Tristan into the net.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis believed that the Spanish striker was offside and that Luis Boa Morte should have been sent off for two challenges in the first half.

As it was, though, the one red card shown by referee Michael Jones was for Stoke striker Ricardo Fuller, who inexplicably slapped his own captain Andy Griffin around the face as Stoke waited to restart the match following Cole's 51st-minute equaliser.

Pulis said he couldn't condone his striker's bizarre action and looks certain to fine Fuller the maximum two weeks' wages.

Zola had some sympathy for his opposite number. "I feel sorry for my colleague," he said. "I know it meant an advantage to us but you don't want to see things like that happen, even if it is to the opposition."

He added: "This [victory] could be a turning point for us as our confidence had been low."