Vital points: West Ham celebrate scoring the game's opening goal Photo: GETTY IMAGES Rarely does the bottom team at Christmas survive in the Premier League and so he will take heart from a family saying. “My parents told be that there is always a first time,” said Grant. “We need to fight against the statistic. It will be very difficult but I think we can do it.”   Related Articles West Ham 2 Portsmouth 0 Premier League table Premier League action Telegraph player rater Transfer Talk Premier League fixtures In fact, the Yuletide strugglers have survived once – West Brom five years ago – but Portsmouth reverted to type after the 2-0 win over Liverpool and stuttered in a poor game. With West Ham boasting the best success rate from the penalty spot and Portsmouth suffering the worst it was inevitable that a kick should decide the game. It was the ninth conceded by Portsmouth in all competitions, allowing Alessandro Diamanti to convert West Ham United’s eighth out of eight.[Read more...]