Manchester United v West Ham United
Barclays Premier League
Old Trafford
Tuesday 23 February 2010
8pm
Referee: Alan Wiley
WHUTV - LIVE COMMENTARY I LIVE TABLE
Introduction
• West Ham United will take on Manchester United looking to make it three wins from three after beating Birmingham City 2-0 at the Boleyn Ground on Wednesday 10 February and picking up a 3-0 home win against Hull City on Saturday.
• It was the first time the club had won back-to-back matches - apart from the final game of last season and the first of this campaign - since 1 and 4 March 2009, when the Hammers picked up 1-0 wins against Wigan Athletic and Manchester City.
• The Hammers go into Tuesday's game 13th in the Barclays Premier League table. Gianfranco Zola's men cannot rise in the standings as they are seven points adrift of Blackburn Rovers in 12th, although they do have a game in hand.
• West Ham last won three league matches in a row at the end of the 2006/07 season when they won four straight - culminating in the last-day 1-0 win at Old Trafford.
• Zola's men twice won three games in a row last season although each run included an FA Cup success - the most recent being the victories against Fulham, Hartlepool United and Hull in January.
• West Ham have lost their last four matches against Manchester United, although prior to this run had won three in a row.
• Manchesster United go into the contest - brought forward because of their involvement in Sunday's League Cup final against Aston Villa - four points behind leaders Chelsea, with both clubs having played 27 matches.
• This is the 110th league meeting between the two sides. Manchester United have won 49, West Ham United have won 37 and there have been 23 draws.
• West Ham have not lost at home in the Barclays Premier League since the 5 December visit of Manchester United. Since then the club have drawn 1-1 with Chelsea, won 2-0 against Portsmouth, drawn 0-0 with Blackburn Rovers, beaten Birmingham City 2-0 and won 3-0 over Hull City.
• Zola's men have kept four clean-sheets in the last six league matches, and conceded just three goals during that period.
• The most recent meeting at Old Trafford came on 29 October 2008 when Sir Alex Ferguson had Cristiano Ronaldo to thank for a 2-0 win with goals in the 14th and 30th minutes. The match was notable for a lively second-half display off the bench from Jack Collison.
• The lineups that day were:
Manchester United: Kuszczak, Rafael (Neville 81), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher (Carrick 69), Anderson, Nani (Rooney 70), Tevez, Berbatov
Subs not used: Foster, Giggs, Park, O'Shea
West Ham United: Green, Faubert, Collins, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami (Boa Morte 44), Bowyer (Sears 69), Mullins, Etherington (Collison 46), Di Michele, Bellamy
Subs not used: Lastuvka, Lopez, Davenport, Reid
• West Ham's biggest away win in the top-flight at Old Trafford was a 2-0 success on 27 November 1976. United's best home league showing against their east-end visitors was a 7-1 success on April Fool's Day in 2000 when Paul Scholes scored a hat-trick.
Last time out
Saturday 20 February 2010
Barclays Premier League
West Ham United 3-0 Hull City
West Ham United: Green, Faubert, Upson, Tomkins, Spector, Behrami, Parker, Kovac, Diamanti (Collison 85), Franco (Ilan 63), Cole (Mido 79(
Subs not used: Stech, Da Costa, Noble, Stanislas
Goals: Behrami 3, Cole 57, Faubert 90
Saturday 20 February 2010
Barclays Premier League
Everton 3-1 Manchester United
Manchester United: Van der Sar, Neville, Brown, Evans, Evra, Park (Obertan 66), Carrick, Fletcher, Valencia (Owen 81), Berbatov (Scholes 66), Rooney
Subs not used: Foster, Rafael, Vidic, Gibson
Goal: Berbatov 16
Last meeting
• The teams last met at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday 5 December when Manchester United won 4-0 - the heaviest home defeat suffered by Gianfranco Zola's men this season and the last time they lost at home in the Premier League.
West Ham United: Green (Kurucz 73), Spector, Gabbidon, Tomkins, Ilunga, Parker, Kovac (Dyer 67), Collison, Stanislas, Franco, Hines (Diamanti 45)
Subs not used: Faubert, Da Costa, Payne, Nouble
Manchester United: Kuszczak, Fletcher, Neville (Carrick 34), Brown, Evra, Valencia, Anderson, Gibson (Berbatov 67), Giggs, Scholes, Rooney (Owen 73)
Subs not used: Foster, De Laet, Park, Nani
Goals: Scholes 45, Gibson 61, Valencia 70, Rooney 72
Old boys
• West Ham United defender Jonathan Spector joined Manchester United as a 17-year-old in 2003. The United States international, who has a German passport, spent two seasons at Old Trafford - making eight appearances for the first team - before moving to Charlton Athletic on a season-long loan in the summer of 2005. Spector left Manchester United for West Ham in June 2006 for an initial fee of £500,000.
• Manchester United have two former West Ham United players in their squad. England defender Rio Ferdinand made 158 appearances for the club between May 1996 and November 2000, scoring two goals. Midfielder Michael Carrick scored six goals in 159 appearances between July 1999 and May 2004.
• Among the other players who have represented both clubs are Roy Carroll, Noel Cantwell, Luke Chadwick, Billy Grassam, Paul Ince, Ralph Milne, Frederick Milnes, Frank O'Farrell, Stuart Pearson, Dave Sexton, Teddy Sheringham and Raimond van der Gouw.
Head to head
Last six meetings: (Premier League unless stated)
5 December 2010 - West Ham United 0-4 Manchester United
8 February 2009 - West Ham United 0-1 Manchester United
29 October 2008 - Manchester United 2-0 West Ham United
3 May 2008 - Manchester United 4-1 West Ham United
29 December 2007 - West Ham United 2-1 Manchester United
13 May 2007 - Manchester United 0-1 West Ham United
Overall record v Manchester United (all competitions) W 41 D 24 L 53
Referee
• Tuesday's referee will be Alan Wiley.
• Aged 49, Wiley has been a Premier League referee since 1999.
• Having learned his trade in the West Midlands (Alliance) League, Wiley joined the Football League List of assistant referees in 1991, before being promoted to the Premier League List three years later.
• In 2000, he was the fourth official at the last FA Cup final at the old Wembley Stadium, which saw Chelsea beat Aston Villa 1-0.
• Since becoming a Select Group referee ten years ago, Wiley has taken charge of the 2002 FA Community Shield, the 2006 League Cup final and, famously, the 2006 FA Cup final between West Ham United and Liverpool.
• Wiley, who also refereed the 2008 Championship play-off final between Hull City and Bristol City, has taken control of two West Ham matches so far this season - the 1-0 defeat at Wigan Athletic on 12 September and the 2-1 home loss to Everton on 8 November.
West Ham United
• The Hammers have scored all seven of the penalties they have been awarded this season, a Barclays Premier League high.
• West Ham have scored 35 goals this season in the league with 14 different players on target. Carlton Cole leads the way (nine), with Alessandro Diamanti (six) and Guille Franco and Matthew Upson (three) next in line. Jack Collison, Mark Noble, Junior Stanislas (two each), Ilan, Manuel da Costa, the departed Luis Jimenez, Zavon Hines, Radoslav Kovac, Valon Behrami and Julien Faubert have also registered. An own-goal from Everton's Tony Hibbert completes the tally.
• Scott Parker has been cautioned nine times this season and Franco and Noble five. Julien Faubert, Cole, Collison and Kovac are each on four yellow cards, but will not be suspended if they receive a fifth as the FA disciplinary deadline has passed. Should any player reach ten cautions before the second Sunday in April, they will receive a two-mach suspension.
• Only Robert Green has played in every league game for the club this season. He is on a run of 113 successive league starts. The only minutes he has missed in that time came with his late substitution in the meeting betwen the two clubs back in December when he complained of being unwell.
• Cole is on a run of 16 goals in 28 league starts since Boxing Day 2008 when he scored the second goal in a 4-1 win at Portsmouth.
Manchester United
• Manchester United come into Tuesday's game eager to bounce back from Saturday lunchtime's 3-1 Barclays Premier League defeat at Everton. The loss put the Red Devils four points behind leaders Chelsea with eleven fixtures remaining.
• Sir Alex Ferguson's team have not suffered back-to-back league defeats since March 2009, when they lost to Liverpool and Fulham.
• United are the division's joint-top scorers with 63 goals- alongside Chelsea. Wayne Rooney is the champions' leading marksman with 21 league goals from 26 appearances. Dimitar Berbatov has nine league goals to his name, while Antonio Valencia has five.
• Rooney has scored in United's last five home league games, netting eight goals during that stretch.
• United players have received seven red cards this season. Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidic, Darren Fletcher, Nani, Michael Carrick, Gary Neville and Fabio have all received their marching orders this term.
• Scholes, with seven, has also received more yellow cards than any of his team-mates.
• France left-back Patrice Evra is the only United player to have started all 27 league matches for the club this season. Rooney has started 26.
Team news
• England midfielder Kieron Dyer will hope to be in contention for Gianfranco Zola's West Ham United matchday squad after training fully again over the weekend.
• Benni McCarthy (knee) is not expected to return before the visit of Bolton Wanderers on Saturday 6 March while Danny Gabbidon (hamstring) is close to a full training return.
• Herita Ilunga is not expected to play again until the middle of next month at the earliest with a tendon injury suffered during the defeat of Birmingham City earlier this month.
• Luis Boa Morte (knee), Calum Davenport (leg) and Zavon Hines (knee) are all long-term absentees. Boa Morte has been doing some light training around the Chadwell Heath pitches - having not played since his cruciate ligament injury at the Barclays Asia Trophy in China in July.
• Manchester United will definitely be without Ryan Giggs, who is nursing a broken wrist, and thigh injury victim Jonny Evans. Long-term absentee Owen Hargreaves (knee) will also be unavailable.
• Portugal winger Nani is suspended after being sent-off in the 1-1 draw at Aston Villa on 10 February, but former West Ham defender Rio Ferdinand is available again after serving a four-match ban.
• Serbia defender Nemanja Vidic could return to partner Ferdinand after being out since 30 December with a nerve problem.
General info
• A limited number of tickets for Tuesday's game will remain on sale until 11am on Tuesday. For further information, click here.
• For up-to-date public transport information click here.
• Tuesday's weather forecast is for a cloudy evening with a maximum temperature of 5C.