West Ham United v Manchester United
During a nightmare three-week spell prior to the festive season Manchester United fell to successive defeats against capital opposition. Arsenal and Chelsea both chinked the champions' armoury before West Ham sent the giants crashing with a 1-0 smash-and-grab raid at Old Trafford to complete the misery. A second Hammers victory on Saturday would surely be rubbing salt into healing wounds.
Lowly Derby County wouldn't have cared much for the east Londoners' heroics, as they were duly pummeled 5-0 the following week as United vented their anger in the best possible way. Indeed a total of 13 sides have been toppled in the wake of West Ham's commendable victory with only four points conceded along the way - the Rams rather fittingly gaining a point just a fortnight ago by way of retribution.
England hopeful Joe Cole is under no illusions as to the size of the task in hand, but is remaining optimistic: "They are the best team in Europe and we've got to go out there and try to beat them; they are a quality side, but we fancy ourselves against anyone at Upton Park." A glance at the Opta database reveals that Glenn Roeder's side are indeed a tough proposition on their own turf.
West Ham have lost just twice in front of their own fans, won more than half of their fixtures and have leaked only seven times - the best home defensive record in the top flight. They have kept seven clean sheets along the way - including their last four fixtures in succession - and the last player to score in the East End was Michael Owen four days after Christmas. They say confidence generates from the back, in which case the Hammers have every right to approach this match with belief.
Nevertheless, for all the hosts' stringency, Manchester United are simply awesome going forward. They have landed a staggering total of 210 shots on target - 75 more than the Hammers - converting an unrivalled 16% of their efforts. David James may be able to point to a 78% saves-to-shots ratio - six percentage points better than the Premiership average - but with United averaging 2.43 strikes per game, he may be hard pushed to maintain such a high level of resistance on Saturday.
United have scored more times on the road than West Ham have managed in both home and away matches combined. Such ferocity in front of goal has fired the Red Devils back to the top of the table and it's difficult to perceive them being anywhere else but pole position come 5.00pm Saturday evening.
Mark Willis
Match referee: M. Halsey
Mark Halsey flashes an average of nearly four cards per game and if he is to increase this rate this weekend, then it is likely that it will be at the expense of the hosts. West Ham have collected more than 600 disciplinary points this term, while the champions are the second-cleanest outfit in the division.
Referee's Name FoulsPenaltiesYellow CardsRed CardsAve
Disc pointsM. Halsey 446 2 49 4 41.53
PLAYER HEAD-TO-HEAD
click below for in-depth comparisonDi Canio v Solskjaer
TEAM NEWS
Midfield trio Michael Carrick, Steve Lomas and John Moncur have trained this week after injury lay-offs and are in West Ham's squad.
MATCH BETTING
click on links below to place a wager
Match Result
West Ham 4/1
Draw 12/5
Man Utd 8/13
Correct Score
West Ham 1-0 9/1
West Ham 2-0 22/1
West Ham 2-1 16/1
West Ham 3-0 66/1
West Ham 3-1 50/1
West Ham 3-2 40/1
West Ham 4-0 100/1
West Ham 4-1 100/1
West Ham 4-2 100/1
Draw 0-0 8/1
Draw 1-1 6/1
Draw 2-2 16/1
Draw 3-3 50/1
Man Utd 1-0 6/1
Man Utd 2-0 11/2
Man Utd 2-1 7/1
Man Utd 3-0 10/1
Man Utd 3-1 10/1
Man Utd 3-2 28/1
Man Utd 4-0 25/1
Man Utd 4-1 25/1
Man Utd 4-2 50/1
Man Utd 5-0 66/1
Man Utd 5-1 50/1
Man Utd 6-0 100/1
Man Utd 6-1 100/1
Double Result
West Ham/West Ham 9/1
West Ham/Draw 16/1
West Ham/Man Utd 25/1
Draw/West Ham 9/1
Draw/Draw 4/1
Draw/Man Utd 7/2
Man Utd/West Ham 45/1
Man Utd/Draw 16/1
Man Utd/Man Utd 6/4
First Goalscorer
F Kanoute 13/2
J Defoe 7/1
P Di Canio 15/2
P Kitson 9/1
R Garcia 10/1
T Sinclair 14/1
J Cole 16/1
M Carrick 20/1
S Lomas 25/1
J Moncur 25/1
L Courtois 25/1
V Labant 25/1
S Minto 33/1
S Schmemel 33/1
I Pearce 40/1
T Repka 40/1
C Dailly 66/1
N Winterburn 66/1
No Goalscorer 8/1
V Nistelrooy 10/3
A Solskjaer 4/1
D Forlan 5/1
D Yorke 13/2
P Scholes 7/1
R Giggs 9/1
D Beckham 9/1
J Veron 14/1
R Keane 20/1
N Butt 20/1
Q Fortune 20/1
L Blanc 28/1
R Johnsen 33/1
D Irwin 40/1
M Silvestre 40/1
P Neville 66/1
G Neville 66/1
For all these bets + much more go now to surreySPORTS.co.uk
By Road:
Download directions to Upton Park in Microsoft Word format: - West Ham.docPLAN YOUR ROUTE WITH RAC ROUTE PLANNERBy Rail: RAILTRACK OFFERS AN EASY-TO-USE JOURNEY PLANNER