West Ham United defender Guy Demel has insisted that he is happy to remain patient for first-team chances this season.

The former Ivory Coast international has made just eight appearances for the Hammers during the current campaign, with manager Sam Allardyce preferring loanee Carl Jenkinson at right-back.

Despite a lack of action at Upton Park this term, Demel has claimed that he is happy to play his part in helping the rest of the squad in training.

"This is the first time in my career that I haven't really played and I'm not really involved on the game-day, but it's helped me to learn about myself because it's easy to be happy when you are in the team, but I am happy with myself because I have not really changed," he told the club's official website.

"I don't like to talk about myself too much, but I think I have been the same guy in training and then the gaffer has made his decision.

"Of course I still play my part. I would like to be on the pitch on a regular basis, but we have to work hard every day because the starting XI need good competition and good training during the week. It's the same for all the players. I am part of it and we all train well. I would say we always have a good mentality and that's exactly the reason why we managed to produce when we were in a bad situation last season."

West Ham are back in action today when they travel to Arsenal in the Premier League.