West Ham United defender James Collins says he hatched a plan to stop Liverpool's Luis Suarez in the 0-0 draw between the two sides at Anfield.

Suarez was nullified for much of the stalemate, as The Hammers took a step further towards ensuring their Premier League survival.

And Collins admits he planned specifically to stop the Uruguayan, the Liverpool striker who is the division's top scorer, and the Welsh defender has taken great solace from his success.

James Collins and Luis Suarez
Collins kept Suarez at bay for much of the game.

"It was great and it's always nice to play well at places like Anfield," he confirmed. "The whole team was spot-on in terms of our defensive performance and, going the other way, we've had chances so it's a massive point, especially with West Ham's performance at Anfield.

"Suarez nutmegged me twice, to be fair, but I thought about how I was going to defend against him before the game.

"If you drop off he's turning and running at you, so I thought if I could get as tight as possible and try to tackle him as high up the pitch as possible, even if I fouled him there it is better than him running into the box. That was the gameplan really and luckily it worked.

"I was wary of the fact he goes over as well and that's why you have to stay on your feet as much as possible and to win the ball you've got to just go for it sometimes. It was one of those games when it's come off for me."

Steven Gerrard's goal-bound effort was blocked by James Tomkins and Suarez was denied by Jussi Jaaskelainen late on as Liverpool sought to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

But despite having suffered 11 defeats from 16 Premier league visits to Liverpool and being without a win in the red half of Merseyside for fifty years, The Hammers weren't weighed down by their underdog tag.

Jack Collison's late header almost delivered the most unlikely of wins for Sam Allardyce, whose side are now six points clear of the drop zone with seven games left, with the manager insisting one more win will ensure survival.

Fellow promoted side Southampton provide that opportunity to cement West Ham's place in the top flight for next season and Collins, who will face the daunting prospect of facing Jay Rodriguez and Ricky Lambert at St Mary's, is optimistic of earning the vital win.

"I watched them on Saturday [winning 2-0 at Reading] and their front-two were superb," he added. "I'll be resting my legs up for the week and I'll be ready to go for three points on Saturday.

"It's going to be a tough game. They beat us down there in the Championship last season so there's going to be a score to settle, but we're playing well are full of confidence so there is no reason we can't go there and get three points."