Andy Carroll is not expecting to automatically reclaim his place in the Hammers team that travels to Everton this weekend!

With the manager seemingly reluctant to make any changes to his ‘four wins on the bounce’ Irons the big N0 9 knows that he has a big challenge to push his way past the born-again Carlton Cole.

Speaking ahead of the game AC declared: “Coley is on fire and has scored six goals, while Kev has got seven, so I’ve just got to work hard and hope the Gaffer sees fit to pick me.

“It’s unbelievable, where we have come from to where we are now. All the lads are buzzing in the dressing room and when I went in there after the Southampton game they were all laughing and messing about. It’s great and I’m over the moon with how things are going.”

Having only returned from a long-term foot injury in January, Carroll has kept himself fit during his enforced absence, most notably during an extended warm-weather training visit to Dubai.

And the official club site reports that the Geordie spent four days with his team-mates before remaining at the Dubai Sports City for a further four days to work one-on-one with the Club’s rehabilitation coach Eduardo Parra Garcia.

AC said: “It was a lot of hard work at the beginning of the week, then the rest of the lads left and it was one-on-one training with Eduardo, which was really good. Having the sun on my back was even better.

“It’s been hard for me all season. I hadn’t really done much training, so wherever I can train is great, but it was even better to do it in the sun.

“It’s obviously great to get away from the training ground when we get the chance. We’re out of the FA Cup and the lads were able to do the same training we do here, but in Dubai. It gives everyone a change of scenery.

During his 18 months on Merseyside with Liverpool AC scored a late winner in their FA Cup semi-final victory over Everton at Wembley in April 2012.

He wants more of that with the Irons but first there’s that little matter of making the line-up.

He said: “We are playing well and are scoring goals now, so I don’t see why we can’t go up there and get three points.

I’ve just got to work hard in training, because that’s all I can do. At the end of the day, the manager picks the team.

“The sending-off has happened and I was annoyed at the time with missing games, which was not what I wanted after the season that I’ve had, but I’m over it now.

“I just need to focus on playing the games now and getting back in the team and playing games.”