West Ham midfielder Jack Collison eyes return by Christmas

West Ham midfielder Jack Collison is confident he will be back in action by Christmas and hopes his injury torment is finally behind him.

Collison has been plagued by a long-term knee problem which has restricted the number of games he has played for the east London club over the last couple of years.

The Welshman gets fluid on his knee after matches and has a similar problem to Ledley King and Paul McGrath, who both saw their careers disrupted by injury.

He played a major role in helping West Ham gain promotion back into the Premier League, scoring two crucial goals in the play-offs against Cardiff back in May.

But it came at a cost as the knee never fully recovered from all the games he was playing in such a short space of time.

Collison has been forced to miss the start of the season, but he is finally making progress and hopes to step up his training over the next few weeks and make a first-team return.

He said: "Hopefully, around Christmas time I should be in the mix. I feel good and I'm just dying to get going in the Premier League. The surgeon is a bit of a magician so hopefully he's sorted me out this time.

"I was obviously out for quite a long while before and last year I came back and played thirty to thirty-five games which was maybe a little bit too much, too soon.

"I had a little bit of a setback so I've had a little clean-up and I'm back training and I'm getting there now."