Striker James McFadden says Birmingham City's players cannot wait to get to grips with West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground this Saturday and erase the memory of their slide into the relegation zone.

The Scotland international striker said the Blues squad was bitterly disappointed after their shock draw against Championship-bound Derby County last Saturday and their no-show at Sunderland five days before.

Now the Hammers could be about to feel the backlash of a doubly determined Birmingham squad as they bid to drag themselves out of the Barclays Premier League basement.

"For me the games can't come quick enough," the £5 million striker said. "After every setback you are dying to get back into action and put it right. We want to fight back and make it right the next game.

"The boys will be fired up at West Ham and we have a good chance of winning that game.

"I don't think being in the bottom three will have any psychological impact on the squad. There is a long way to go, and there are games we know we should win.

"Derby was a game we should have won and it was a must-win game for us. If we had won then it would be a different story."

McFadden made his full home debut after appearing as a substitute against Chelsea and then making his first start at the Stadium of Light, and he believes he should have scored his first goal for the club by now after moving from Everton.

However, he sees goals in his future and feels his emerging partnership with Scotland team-mate Gary O'Connor will prove fruitful.

"It was very disappointing in the end against Derby, especially after the way we played. I didn't think we deserved that late blow," he said.

"We needed another goal and perhaps myself and Gary could have got a couple more. That is the way it goes, when you are down you are down.

"I thought my partnership with Gary went well, especially for Gary who created one or two chances for me.

He works hard and I thought we linked up well.

"We need to start killing teams off."

McFadden's optimism for Birmingham's future is shared by midfielder Fabrice Muamba, who also had a great opportunity against Derby to score his first goal for the club.

The England Under-21 international, who was in the national team starting line-up for the European Championship qualifier against the Republic of Ireland at Southampton's St Mary's Stadium on Tuesday night, also sees the trip to West Ham as a great opportunity to return to winning ways.

"There is always another game to put things right and I am sure if we carry on with this mentality and reproduce the Derby performance we will be OK," he said.

"We will be doing our very best to remain in the Premiership. We will go back to basics and try as hard as we can to win as many games as we can between now and the end of the season.

"We work extremely hard and were very solid against Derby but we couldn't take the chances.

"One of the disappointing things about this season is that we have struggled to kill off teams. We have played extremely well on occasions but just haven't been able to kill off our opponents.

"I am sure as the season goes on we will be doing our utmost to kill off teams. I am sure another chance will come my way and I will make sure I take it."