Aston Villa's Leandro Bacuna calls for survival focus ahead of West Ham clash

The Dutchman knows the claret and blues can easily get sucked towards the bottom three if they get complacent.

The snug nature of the Premier League's bottom half means tomorrow's visit of West Ham and Tuesday's trip to Cardiff take on added significance.

Villa are seemingly sitting comfortably in 10th but are only five points off the drop zone ahead of their double header with two of the chasing pack.

The Hammers occupy the last relegation slot with just eight points separating the entire bottom half.

And Bacuna knows, despite their spot in the table, Villa are far from safe.

"You need to look down but we're 10th and just want to go up," said the 22-year-old.

"We'll keep going and try to get enough points and try to go up. We have two important games coming up. We play one at home and the crowd will be behind us. We'll go there and get some points, that is what we need to do now.

"We're defending confidently as a team and we need to do the same on tomorrow.

"People will say you want to win every game so there's always a little bit of pressure but as footballers you need to handle it."

Bacuna has two goals in his last two games after scoring against Albion and in Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Everton.

Lambert missed out on Norwich's Wes Hoolahan in his search for an attacking midfielder in the January transfer window.

Bacuna has been suggested as an alternative to fill the gap but he is playing it cool over a possible new role.

"I think for me I just want to play game to game. I'm happy to play wherever," he said.

"I'm not making the decisions. I'm doing well at the moment so I will keep doing my job and we'll see. Maybe I'm lucky at the moment, you never know."

Victory tomorrow would give Villa extra breathing space to the bottom three and build on the home victory over Albion.

Last month's 4-3 derby win was just Villa's third home league win of the season as they came back from falling 2-0 down inside the first 10 minutes.

But since their sloppy opening against the Baggies, Bacuna feels they have defended well, despite the 2-1 defeat at Everton.

He said: "We want to keep it tight every game. It doesn't matter if you are 2-0 down against West Brom because normally you want to keep it tight and not concede easy goals anywhere.

"We defended really well at Everton, we were together and if we concede the first goal you get a little bit disappointed but we need to keep going. The second goal is a good free-kick."

Villa are sweating on Ron Vlaar's fitness after the skipper limped out at Goodison Park with a tight hamstring while Gabby Agbonlahor is unlikely to return from his foot injury.

And Bacuna admitted the team need Vlaar but backed Nathan Baker to fill the void.

He added: "Ron is a part of the team and everyone knows how important to us he is. Ron is important but everyone is and if we lose him we have players who can step up."

West Ham are without the suspended Andy Carroll after failing to get his red card against Swansea overturned – a decision the England striker branded a "disgrace".

The Hammers' pleas for the FA to quash referee Howard Webb's decision illustrate the importance of the 25-year-old to their survival chances.

They have even threatened High Court action to take the case to arbitration.

Ex-Villa loanee Carlton Cole is likely to lead the line with former claret and blue Stewart Downing in line to face his old club. Marco Borriello is likely to feature after playing a behind-closed-doors friendly against Southend on Tuesday.