West Ham United skipper Mark Noble, has said that he would be "shocked" that star man Dimitri Payet left the London Stadium in the January transfer window.

Can't afford to lose him

Payet's value has rocketed through the roof since his excellent campaign with the Hammers last season, and his performances at this summer's Euro 2016 tournament with France.

However Slaven Bilic's side have failed to live up to their performances of last year, as they wallow near the bottom of the Premier League table.

This has led to heavy rumours of the Frenchman of making an exit in the January transfer window, with Frenchman stating previously that he wouldn't shut the door on a possible exit.

The latest rumours state that he hasn't been contacted about a possible move to Arsenal, but Noble stated that he would be surprised if he made a move away from East London.

"You never know what happens in football," Noble told Sky Sports News HQ. "I'm pretty sure Dimi doesn't want to come out and say too much."

"I would be shocked to see him go before the end of January," the skipper stated. "I'm pretty sure it would have to be a healthy bid to get him away from us."

"Can we afford to lose him?," Noble added. "No not really, because he is one of the best players in the world at the minute."

Moving on up

It is clear that the Hammers haven't had the best start to the campaign, but it does seem that the Hammers seem to be getting their season back on track.

Two wins on the spin against Burnley and Hull have put a five-point gap between them and the drop zone, and ahead of the Boxing Day clash with Swansea City Noble stated they can go into the Boxing Day clash with more confidence.

“We didn’t start the season the best we know that," he told whufc.com. "But last week was massive for us because it moved us up the Premier League table."

“We’ve got another two games that we need to go and get points from," the Skipper admitted. "Points breed confidence and it seems to be getting a lot better."

“Now with those wins under our belts we can go to Swansea on Boxing Day with more confidence," the Englishman added. "And look forward to getting some more points on the board."

"If we can win there we'd be on 20-plus points and if we can keep up the momentum by winning games," Noble concluded. "No matter how we win them, we can go into the New Year and the second part of the season will be a lot more comfortable and the players can start enjoying themselves."

West Ham United will take on Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on Monday, December 26 with kick-off at 3pm GMT.