Hammers manager Sam Allardyce is looking for between 10 and 15 goals from both Carlton Cole and John Carew this season if West Ham are to achieve promotion.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce is likely to stick to his lone striker formation for the foreseeable future and that means trying to keep his ‘temperamental’ group of strikers happy at the club.

With Carlton Cole, John Carew, Freddie Piquionne and Sam Baldock all vying for one place in the team at the moment, Allardyce knows that it will be a juggling act for the rest of the season.

“The strikers are the most temperamental,” said Allardyce with a smile. “They are always moaning about something.

“When you bring them off it’s ‘I wanted to stay on’ and if you don’t bring them off, it’s ‘I should have come off!’

“They are the most temperamental, but they have to live with the pressure of making sure that they are the headliners, because the hardest thing to do is score a goal and if you don’t score a goal, you get slaughtered.”

Carew replaced Cole on Saturday at Palace and headed his first goal in West Ham colours 10 minutes from time to earn the Hammers a point.

But it seems that it is unlikely that we will see the striking pair playing together anytime soon.

“Eventually you think you might play them together, but I think we are really looking at Baldock and Carew or Baldock and Cole,” said Allardyce.

“At the moment we are functioning better in a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-4-2.”

The West Ham boss was certainly impressed by Carew’s cameo role on Saturday and he has a goal target, both for him and the rest of his team.

“We will be expecting John to score 12 to 15 goals this season and the same for Carlton,” he said. “We know how many players have got to score.

“Kevin Nolan’s on song now because that is his third in 10 games which is his normal stat from midfield which is very, very good.

“Of course, we’ve got to get Sam Baldock in the frame and scoring.

“The other midfielders and then of course, defenders on set-pieces to get the total we need to get promotion.”

So far West Ham have notched 18 league goals.