Bowyer confident of saving West Ham from drop

Lee Bowyer is confident he can help his new club, West Ham United, win their battle against relegation and claim his £1m bonus.

The Hammers signed Bowyer from Leeds United on a short-term contract this week and he is relishing the challenge of saving the club he supported as a youngster from the drop. "There are some great players here and it's surprising they are bottom of the table, but hopefully I can bring them a bit of luck," he said. "I think we will be able to do it. I've been a West Ham fan since I was a kid and now I am here playing it means a lot to me."

The midfielder is in line to begin his West Ham career against Newcastle United at Upton Park tomorrow. His new manager, Glenn Roeder, said: "It's common knowledge that there were at least seven, eight or nine Premiership clubs that wanted to take Lee."

Roeder added: "I spoke to one Premiership manager yesterday who called me all sorts of names for getting the signature before him. Thankfully he chose West Ham, the team he supported as a boy."

Asked about his new signing's troubled life off the pitch, Roeder said: "I only want to talk about Lee Bowyer as a footballer. Things that have gone are in the past."

Olivier Dacourt has followed Bowyer out of Elland Road and joined Roma on loan. The 28-year-old French midfielder will be on loan until the end of the Italian season when Roma will have an option to make the deal permanent, having already agreed a fee with Leeds.

Dacourt joined Leeds from Lens in May 2000 for £7m but fell out of favour with the new Leeds manager, Terry Venables, after branding the club's league position "a disgrace".

Dacourt, who last played against Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Uefa Cup in October, is expected to be in Roma's side for Sunday's game against Chievo.

Arsenal have announced they will give Farnborough Town all profits from programme sales at their FA Cup fourth-round tie after the match was switched to Highbury due to safety reasons.

The Conference club will miss out on £265,000 in television income for live coverage of the game, as Sky Sports will instead show Gillingham's tie against Leeds United. They will nevertheless benefit from a £40,000 highlights fee, as well as 50 per cent of gate receipts, which could give them a further £500,000.