JAMES Collins admits West Ham have "defied logic'' with their amazing surge to Barclays Premiership survival.

Yesterday's 1-0 win at champions Manchester United completed an astounding run of seven wins from the last nine games by Alan Curbishley's men, which has seen them rise from a seemingly hopeless position to preserve their top-flight status.

Despite being written off at Christmas and then pilloried amid the wrangle over the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, the Hammers have somehow remained strong.

And Tevez's goal was enough to see them clamber away from the bottom three, leaving a disgruntled Sheffield United to accompany Charlton and Watford into the Championship.

"We have defied logic,'' said Hammers Newport-born defender Collins. "I don't think the players ever thought we wouldn't get out of it but we knew we were in a lot of trouble.

"Plenty of people wrote us off and said we were dead and buried. Certainly, no-one would have believed we could win seven out of our last nine games.

"But, thankfully, we turned it round and now we can enjoy it for the rest of the summer.'' Collins cited a fortuitous win at Blackburn in March as the game which turned the Hammers' season on its head.

Tevez scored the winner that day too and the Argentina striker's influence has had a massive bearing on results over the past couple of months.

Yet, it is impossible to mention Tevez's name without dredging up the row over whether West Ham should have been docked points over his signing which, along with Mascherano, was found to be in clear breach of Premier League rules.

Manager Alan Curbishley has been reluctant to enter the debate over a transgression which occurred before he replaced Alan Pardew in December.

However, with the threat of legal action looming, he wonders whether West Ham's rivals have become sidetracked over the issue.

"We have had to concentrate on playing football but maybe other people have concentrated on the other side of it a bit too much,'' he said.

"The Premier League have had their inquiry, given their verdict and said it is over, so I don't think the decision will be overturned.

"We have been public enemy number one and the publicity has been ramped up a lot this week as well. I send my commiserations to Sheffield United, as I do my old club Charlton. But now we can look forward.'' l Support for a legal challenge to West Ham's escape from relegation appears to be growing after Wigan chairman Dave Whelan claimed Middlesbrough had joined the so-called Gang of Four'.

Whelan has given his full support to any legal challenge to the decision made by the Premier League's independent commission and said his club, the Blades, Charlton and Fulham had been joined in their fight by Middlesbrough.

Reports this morning also suggest at least another two unnamed top-flight clubs are ready to join the movement.

"Charlton, Sheff United, Wigan, Fulham and Middlesbrough are all determined that we should get justice and West Ham should have been deducted points,'' said Whelan, whose club survived at the expense of the Blades after winning 2-1 at Bramall Lane.