IVAN Klasnic is ready put some distance between Wanderers and the relegation pack at West Ham on Saturday.

The Croatian hitman is back in action following a month on the sidelines with a calf injury and ready to get down to business at Upton Park, where victory could see Owen Coyle’s side pull five points clear of the bottom three.

The Whites had struggled badly in his absence, failing to score in five league games.

And while Zat Knight’s winner against Wolves on Saturday ended a nine-hour wait for a goal, Klasnic, pictured, hopes his return can help sharpen the team up in time for the first of a vital run of fixtures.

“Although I’ve been injured, I’ve been to all the games that we have played,” he said. “That’s one thing we have at Bolton — the players all win together and lose together.

“It’s clear to see that we have been making a lot of chances, but we must realise that we need to put the ball in the net and hopefully I can make that happen. I’m sure that I will be able to do that and make everybody happy.”

Wanderers could climb above the Hammers into 13th place with a win on Saturday before travelling to face Sunderland at the Stadium on Light on Tuesday night.

Klasnic reckons that the performance in both games will be very much of secondary importance to the result.

“It doesn’t matter how we play,” he said. “It’s all about making sure that we work hard and get the result. People won’t ask how we played after the full-time whistle if we get the three points.”

Having stayed behind from international duty this week with Croatia in action against Belgium, Klasnic will be rested for the trip to East London.

And while the striker, on loan from Nantes until the end of the season, is still unsure whether he will remain at the Reebok, he insists he is enjoying his time in the Premier League under Owen Coyle.

“Since the manager has come to the club, with us both being strikers, we have had some good chats out on the pitch,” he said. “You can definitely see that he used to score plenty of goals and he is someone I can still learn off, and we have a joke about that.

“Like many players in Europe, I have always had a dream of one day playing in England even though I never knew when that would be.

“It has been an enjoyable six months at Bolton, everybody gets on well with each other and it made it easy to settle in.”