West Ham United winger Stewart Downing has insisted that he is looking forward to going head to head with his former club Liverpool on Sunday.

The Merseyside outfit are fighting for the Premier League title, while the Hammers are aiming for a top-10 finish before the end of the season.

Downing moved to London from Anfield last summer alongside Andy Carroll, while Joe Cole left Liverpool for Upton Park in January last year.

"It's nice to play against your old teams and I'm sure Andy and Joe Cole are looking forward to it," Downing told the club's official website. "We're in for that top 10 spot and it's tight, so we want to do ourselves and the other teams a favour.

"[Liverpool's] forward line is frightening at the minute. The goals are coming from everywhere, but we'll make it hard for them at our place.

"When I was playing for Liverpool it was always hard against West Ham at Upton Park. It's going to be difficult, but a good win on Monday breeds confidence and we fancy ourselves against anyone at home."

The Hammers are 11th in the table following Monday's 2-1 win over Sunderland.