Robert Green: Hope alive in claret, blue and Green

Hammers keeper has renewed ambition - for club and country. Ronald Atkin talks to him

Being a sensible chap, Robert Green cherishes every moment he spends at football's top level. So he knows better than most what it will mean to him as he takes his place between the West Ham posts for their Premiership match against Everton at Goodison this afternoon.

Six months ago, while still earning his corn with Norwich City in the Championship, Green ruptured two muscles in his groin taking a goal-kick in an England B game against Belarus. It was an embarrassing, not to mention painful, moment as Belarus returned the ball into an empty net and went on to win 2-1.

Now, having moved from East Anglia to East London for £2 million in August, Green is solidly established for the Hammers. This afternoon's game will be his seventh since replacing Roy Carroll, a sequence which has coincided with the club's turnaround of a disastrous start to the season.

"Regardless of whether you have been injured or not, every game is a big one to play in as far as I am concerned," he said after training on Friday. "People pay a hell of a lot to watch you, it's exciting, a tremendous honour, and you want to do your best. But when you get injured it reminds you of those values and makes you appreciate what you've got."

The groin damage cost Green his place in the England World Cup squad. "But," he grins, "I would have traded getting injured and not going to the World Cup to be back playing in the Premiership at West Ham. At the time it looked like I could be missing out on one of the best World Cups for England for 40 years, but as it turned out it didn't go according to plan. So to get a move like this was more than I could have hoped for at the time."

Though he termed his injury "not pleasant", Green pointed out: "I have seen people in worse positions in life, so you take the philosophical view. I never saw it as that big a thing. It's an injury, an occupational hazard, but you can get over it and get on. I knew I would heal and be back playing again, a couple of months in all to get back properly."

When he did come back, in a West Ham reserve game, Green was abruptly reminded of the hazards of his trade. "As I was about to take my first goal-kick, two lads standing behind the goal shouted 'Don't break your leg again'." Though admitting he still gets "the odd twinge now and again", Green maintains the operation has been a success.

The summer of rehab brought Green an unexpected opportunity for a family reunion. "I took the chance to visit my two sisters, who live in Australia and New Zealand. I hadn't seen them for a couple of years. With this job you don't get too many openings to do that. But it was a great feeling to be back in training. To me, playing in goal is something that comes naturally, and after doing it for a decade you just try to get back on the bike and get going again."

Has he got going well enough to be considered for additions to the one cap he has won, as a substitute against Colombia on England's North American tour in May 2005? "My first priority is to keep my place in the West Ham team. With Roy Carroll and Jimmy Walker back in training, and with Gabor Kiraly here as well, the goalkeeping squad is pretty strong, so you have to keep playing well. And how I play here is what will affect my England chances. Anyway, Paul Robinson is doing a fantastic job. The criticism he received [for conceding a soft goal against Croatia] has been ridiculous. He was one game off an England record number of clean sheets in a row. At the moment Paul has got the jersey and he's doing wonderfully well."

Green is delighted that with the takeover of West Ham now completed, a worry has been lifted from all the playing staff. "So finally the focus can go back to the pitch, where we can do the talking." It is a relief shared by the manager, Alan Pardew, who claims the team's revival is now well under way. Of Green's six previous games, three have been won at home, and three lost (at Tottenham, Middlesbrough and Chelsea) by a single goal. Now is the time to reverse that away form. "We won at Everton last season and were applauded off the pitch by the home fans. So a repeat of last year would be the perfect tonic. It's realistic to expect we can play as well there again. Everton will be a bit more on their guard this time, but we feel we are in good enough form to get a win there. At Chelsea and Middlesbrough we produced good levels without getting a result.

"I was hoping we would kick on from our performance in the Cup final, that it would give us the belief we could achieve something special in the Premiership. But it hasn't worked out.

"The takeover did affect us, we have been out of sorts, but several weeks ago we started to put that right. So with the timely boost of that takeover and then a win at home last weekend we can look forward to Sunday wearing rose-tinted glasses." Or even Green ones.