West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce has revealed that he is desperate to improve his defensive options after losing a number of players to injury.

The Hammers fell to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Sunderland this afternoon in a match that saw James Collins limp off with a hamstring injury.

Collins joins fellow defenders George McCartney and Joey O'Brien on the sidelines, and Allardyce is keen to strengthen that area of his side.

"The big blow for me is not having enough defenders at the moment. There are too many of my defenders injured," said Allardyce.

"We have had too many injuries recently, but the injury situation with defenders with George McCartney not being here, Joey O'Brien not being here and James Collins getting injured today means that the defensive side of our team is particularly weak and short of numbers now.

"I am really going to have to go and try to strengthen that area in the next few days."

West Ham now sit 11th in the Premier League table, while the win sees Sunderland end the day in 14th.