Pre-season friendly
Panathinaikos FC v West Ham United
Fussballplatz, Kitzbuhel, Austria
Friday 23 July 2010
Kick-off: 6.30pm

HIGHLIGHTS AND REACTION TO COME ON WHUTV I LIVE TEXT COMMENTARY ON WHUFC.COM

Introduction

• West Ham United will take on Greek champions Panathinaikos FC in the Austrian town of Kitzbuhel on Friday evening.

• The pre-season friendly, which will kick-off at 6.30pm local time, will be the Hammers' third outing since the squad returned to training on 5 July. So far, Avram Grant's men have secured victories over League One outfit Peterborough United (2-1) and German side VfL Borussia Monchengladbach (2-0).

• The match will be the second of two contested by West Ham during their pre-season training camp, with last Saturday's win over VfL Borussia Monchengladbach taking place in the picturesque town of Ruhpolding in south-east Germany.

Last meeting

• West Ham United took on Panathinaikos in the club's only previous meeting at the Makita International Tournament at Arsenal's former Highbury home on 4 August 1991.

• George Parris gave Billy Bonds' side the lead, only for Panathinaikos to equalise and take the third-place play-off to a penalty shootout. Unfortunately, despite Ludek Miklosko saving the Greeks' first penalty, misses from Ian Bishop, Simon Livett and Martin Allen meant defeat for the Hammers.

Last time out

Saturday 17 July 2010
Pre-season friendly
VfL Borussia Monchengladbach 0-2 West Ham United
West Ham United: Kurucz (Stech 46), Faubert (Fry 59), Gabbidon (Da Costa 46), Tomkins (Spence 81), Ilunga (Daprela 46), Dyer (Kovac 46), Noble (Montano 59), Hitzlsperger (Edgar 70), Boa Morte (Diamanti 59), Sears (Stanislas 59), Cole (McCarthy 46)
Goals: Cole 33, McCarthy 51

Tuesday 20 July 2010
Pre-season friendly
Panathinaikos FC 3-1 VfL Wolfsburg
Panathinaikos FC: Karnezis (Galinovic 46) Bjarsmyr (Machlelis 84) Sarriegi, Kante, Melissis, Marinos (Fetsis 84) Assets (Lagos 61), Gabriel (Black 61), Leto (Rukavina 61), Cleyton (Dimoutsos 61), Petropoulos (Stampolzief 69).
Goals: Gabriel 8, 60, Rukavina 69

West Ham United

• Avram Grant's West Ham United will be aiming to continue the bright start they have made to their pre-season schedule, which has seen them defeat League One new boys Peterborough United (2-1) at London Road and German Bundesliga challengers VfL Borussia Monchengladbach (2-0) in Ruhpolding.

• West Ham will continue their pre-season preparations with further trips to MK Dons and Ipswich Town before completing their warm-up fixtures with the visit of Spanish Primera Division club RC Deportivo La Coruna to the Boleyn Ground for the SBOBET Cup tie on Saturday 7 August.

• Carlton Cole has been in fine form in pre-season scoring in both successes so far. Benni McCarthy also enjoyed a fine evening against VfL Borussia Monchengladbach, netting his first goal for the club with a fine half-volley.

• Young professionals Matt Fry, Anthony Edgar and Cristian Montano have all signed new contracts with the club and will hope to impress the new manager if they are given the chance to do so against Panathinaikos.

• A number of players have departed from West Ham since the end of the 2009/10 season. Josh Payne, Bondz N'Gala, Ilan, Guille Franco, Davide Ferrari, Danny Kearns, Terry Dixon and Tony Brookes have all moved on after their respective contracts expired, while Mido's short-term loan from Middlesbrough was not renewed.

• Grant's side will kick-off their Premier League campaign with a trip to Aston Villa on Saturday 14 August.

Panathinaikos FC

• Athens-based Panathinaikos FC are the reigning Greek champions after winning the Super League championship for the 20^th time in 2009/10. The club also won the Greek Cup to complete a domestic double.

• The Greens are coached by Nikos Nioplias, a former OFI Crete, Panathinaikos and Greece midfielder who previously coached the Greece U19 and U21 squads before taking over at the Olympic Stadium in December 2009. As a player, Nioplias won two Super League titles and three Greek Cups with Panathinaikos and one Greek Cup with OFI Crete.

• The club provided ten players at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, meaning only Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool and Bayern Munich supplied more. The ten were Brazil midfielder Gilberto Silva, France forward Djibril Cisse and Greece internationals Giourkas Seitaridis, Nikos Spiropoulos, Giorgos Karagounis, Loukas Vyntra, Alexandros Tzorvas, Dimitris Salpigidis, Sotiris Ninis and Kostas Katsouranis.

• Panathinaikos have brought in France forward Sidney Govou on a free transfer after the 30-year-old's contract expired at Olympique Lyonnais.

• The Greek champions will be hoping to succeed in Europe in 2010/11 after a disappointing 2009/10 campaign in continental competition. Panathinaikos were defeated 5-2 on aggregate by Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League play-off round and dropped into the UEFA Europa League. There, they were knocked out in the last-16 by Standard Liege.

Team news

• .Manager Avram Grant is unlikely to use any of his four FIFA World Cup players - namely Robert Green, Jonathan Spector, Matthew Upson and Valon Behrami - as they only returned to training this week.

• .Scott Parker and Freddie Piquionne were also late arrivals into pre-season training, so the manager may decide to hold them back for next week's friendlies against MK Dons and Ipswich Town.

•  Otherwise the manager has a full complement of players to choose from, with everyone coming through a full week's training.

• Only Pablo Barrera and the injured duo of Jack Collison and Zavon Hines are not with the squad in Bavaria.

General information

• The weather forecast is for an overcast day with a top temperature of around 22C.

• Tickets will be available on the day, priced at 10 euros.