West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce believes that injuries to his side's strikers has been the main reason for their poor run of form in the second half of the season.
The Hammers have been without Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia for periods of the campaign, which has seen the club record just three wins in the Premier League in 2015, denting their hopes of European football.
However, Allardyce's men remain on course for their target of 50 points set at the start of the season, and he is determined bring up the milestone against Aston Villa later today.
He told the club's official website: "We're now three points away from the goal, which shows that all the players have improved since they got back into the Premier League, and particularly the new players have made a massive difference.
"Our only problem at this moment in time has been injuries and coping with those. That has caused the lack of goalscoring ability in terms of players in the team who have not been able to convert the chances we've created.
"What we have to do at Aston Villa is continue in the progress of making sure we keep a clean sheet in the game. That's the most important thing to build something at Aston Villa to try and win."
West Ham are ninth in the Premier League ahead of their clash at Villa Park.
Simon Sinclair
