FA Cup sponsored by E.ON third round
West Ham United v Arsenal
Boleyn Ground
Sunday 3 January
4.15pm
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
WHUTV - ALL THE NEWS AND VIEWS, ACTION AND REACTION
+ LIVE AUDIO COMMENTARY
• West Ham United play host to Arsenal for what is surely the pick of the FA Cup third-round ties.
• Both teams have a rich cup tradition, having lifted the famous trophy 13 times between them. Arsenal have contributed the lion's share to that stat having won the competition ten times, while the Hammers have tasted cup success on three occasions.
• While Arsenal may have won more FA Cups than West Ham, the east Londoners hold the upper hand when it comes to cup meetings, having lost just three times in 14 meetings and winning five times in the process.
• The most famous and talked about of those wins was the 1980 FA Cup final when Trevor Brooking scored the winner with a rare headed goal at Wembley on 10 May that year.
• The first two meetings between teams came in the FA Cup way back in the 1905/06 season, when Arsenal needed a replay to get past the Hammers, taking the second game by the odd goal in five.
• This will be the second meeting of the two teams at the Boleyn Ground this season following the thrilling 2-2 Premier League draw on 25 October. That day, the Hammers fought back from two goals down to tie the game through goals from Carlton Cole and Alessandro Diamanti.
• West Ham will be looking for their first win in six matches against the Gunners, having lost three times and drawn twice since winning 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium on 7 April 2007.
• The two teams have met 106 times in the league. Arsenal have won 46, West Ham United have won 27 and there have been 32 draws.
• Gianfranco Zola said: "It is important that the mind is always on the things that we can achieve and that we work hard to reach our targets. We will try to make it a great year for everybody. In my experience, every time something has been difficult in my life, I have always achieved what I was aiming for."
• Arsene Wenger said: "We had a few players who played on the edge the other night and I will try not to take too big a risk for some players who are medically vulnerable at the moment, and protect one or two more. But we will have just as strong a side as we had at Portsmouth."
Last time out
Monday 28 December 2009
Barclays Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 West Ham United
West Ham United: Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Upson, Ilunga (Spector 19), Collison (Stanislas 79), Kovac, Parker (Jimenez 12), Behrami, Diamanti, Franco
Subs not used: Stech, Da Costa, Payne, Nouble
Wednesday 30 December 2009
Barclays Premier League
Portsmouth 1-4 Arsenal
Arsenal: Almunia, Vermaelen, Traore,Sagna, Gallas, Arshavin (Vela 82), Song, Nasri (Eastmond 85), Diaby, Ramsey, Eduardo (Rosicky 72),
Subs not used: Silvestre, Fabianski, Merida, Wilshere
Goals: Eduardo 27, Nasri 42, Ramsey 69, Song 81
Last meeting
The two sides' last meeting was a 2-2 draw at the Boleyn Ground on 25 October. The two teams that day were -
West Ham United: Green, Spector, Tomkins, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami, Parker, Noble (Diamanti 56), Collison, Franco (Hines 64), Cole
Subs: Kurucz, Faubert, Da Costa, Kovac, Stanislas
Goals: Cole 74, Diamanti 80 (pen)
Arsenal: Mannone, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Eboue (Bendtner 82), Song, Diaby (Eduardo 88), Fabregas, Arshavin, van Persie
Subs: Almunia, Silvestre, Nasri, Gibbs, Ramsey
Goals: Van Persie 16, Gallas 37
Head to head
Last six meetings (Premier League unless stated)
25 October 2009 West Ham United 2-2 Arsenal
31 January 2009 Arsenal 0-0 West Ham United
26 October 2008 West Ham United 0-2 Arsenal
1 January 2008 Arsenal 2-0 West Ham United
29 September 2007 West Ham United 0-1 Arsenal
7 April 2007 Arsenal 0-1 West Ham United
Overall record v Arsenal (all competitions) W 33 D 38 L 50
Next up
West Ham United have another vital home game seven days after this cup encounter, when Wolverhampton Wanderers visit the Boleyn Ground. Arsenal play host to Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday 6 January.
Referee
* Sunday's referee will be Mark Clattenburg.
* The 34-year-old was the man in the middle for the Championship play-off semi-final first leg in May 2004 when Ipswich Town won 1-0 against the visiting West Ham United. He has been on the Premier League list since 2004.
* Clattenburg was in charge when Tottenham Hotspur visited the Boleyn Ground and won 2-1 on Sunday 23 August.
* He was also referee when the Hammers drew 3-3 with Hull City at the KC Stadium on 21 November.
West Ham United
• West Ham United have won the FA Cup three times - in 1964, 1975 and 1980 - and been runners-up on two occasions - in 1923 and 2006
• Last season West Ham United were knocked out in a fifth-round replay by Middlesbrough on 25 February
• The club had won through to the last-16 for the first time since the 2005/06 season, when they went all the way to the final before losing to Liverpool on penalties following a 3-3 draw at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
• The Hammers knocked out Barnsley 3-0 at home in the third round with goals from Herita Ilunga - his first for the club - a Mark Noble penalty and Carlton Cole. West Ham then won 2-0 at Hartlepool United in the fourth round, with the goals coming courtesy of Valon Behrami and another Noble penalty.
• West Ham have already won one London derby in the cup competitions this season when they beat Millwall 3-1 after extra time at the Boleyn Ground in August.
• In their last game at the Boleyn Ground - the 2-0 Premier League win against Portsmouth - West Ham United kept their first clean sheet since the 0-0 draw with Blackburn Rovers on 29 August.
• The Hammers have scored all seven of the penalties they have been awarded this season, a Premier League high.
• The Hammers have lost six of their eight games when they have been level at half-time.
• West Ham have scored 28 goals this season in the league with eleven different scorers registering. Carlton Cole leads the way (seven), with Alessandro Diamanti (five) and Guille Franco (three) next in line. Jack Collison (two), Matthew Upson (two), Junior Stanislas (two), Manuel da Costa, Mark Noble, Luis Jimenez, Zavon Hines and Radoslav Kovac have also registered.
• Cole is West Ham's top scorer this season with seven goals in 13 league games. The England striker has scored 14 goals in 25 Premier League games since Boxing Day 2008.
• Scott Parker has been booked seven times this season, Guille Franco five - leading to his suspension on Sunday, while Julien Faubert, Cole and Mark Noble are each on four yellow cards.
• Jack Collison made his West Ham United and Premier League debut as a substitute in the 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on New Year's Day 2008.
• West Ham United's biggest home win over Arsenal came in a league game on 7 March 1927, when the hosts were 7-0 victors. Vic Watson scored a hat-trick, while Joseph Johnson and Jimmy Ruffell were also on target. Arsenal contributed to their own demise by scoring two own-goals. On 5 November 1960, the Hammers ran out 6-0 winners, with Dave Dunmore netting a hat-trick and Andy Malcolm, Phil Woosnam and John Dick each scoring once.
• West Ham United became the first away team to win at the Emirates Stadium in a competitive fixture on 7 April 2007, when Bobby Zamora's goal and a man-of-the-match display from Green helped the Hammers to secure a vital 1-0 victory.
Arsenal
• Arsenal made it all the way to the FA Cup semi-finals last season, before losing 2-1 to Chelsea. Prior to that defeat they had knocked out Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City, Burnley and Hull City.
• Arsenal have won the FA Cup ten times - only bettered by Manchester United's eleven victories. The Gunners picked up the trophy in 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2005.
• Two of Arsenal's three top scorers are out injured. Cesc Fabregas has 12 goals to his name, while Robin van Persie is tied with the available Andrey Arshavin on eight goals in all competitions.
Team news
• Gianfranco Zola will be forced to shuffle his pack as three players are likely to be missing from the team that started the London derby with Tottenham.
• Guille Franco is definitely out after picking up his fifth booking of the season, while Scott Parker and Herita Ilunga, who were both forced off inside the first 20 minutes at Spurs with hamstring injuries, are not expected to figure. Mark Noble, Danny Gabbidon and Kieron Dyer were already absent with hamstring injuries although Zola is hopeful that he will have a significant number of returnees for the visit of Wolves on Sunday week.
• Luis Jimenez and Frank Nouble will be pushing for starting places in attack, along with Freddie Sears, who is available after his return from a loan spell at Crystal Palace. Sears could take the place in Zola's squad of Zavon Hines, who is out with a knee injury. He has been further assessed this week by a specialist, which should mean confirmation soon of how long he is likely to be missing.
• Long-term absentees Luis Boa Morte (knee) and Calum Davenport (leg) are also definitely unavailable.
• Carlton Cole is making good progress from his knee injury and is aiming for a January return.
• Arsenal will be without a minimum of nine players this weekend.
• Nicklas Bendtner (groin), Theo Walcott (muscle), Cesc Fabregas (hamstring), Denilson (back), Kieran Gibbs (ankle), Johan Djourou (knee), Gael Clichy (back() and Robin van Persie (knee) are all absent through injury. Emmanuel Eboue has already joined up with Ivory Coast for the African Cup of Nations with Alex Song playing his last game before linking up with Cameroon.
• Philippe Senderos (foot) and Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) may start after recent injuries. Wenger could also give rare starts to Lukasz Fabianski and Mikael Silvestre.
Old boys
• Matthew Upson joined Arsenal from Luton Town for £2m in May 1997 at the age of 18. Upson made a total of 56 appearances for the Gunners over five-and-a-half seasons before moving to Birmingham City for £1m in January 2003
• Luis Boa Morte was brought to English football from FC Porto in 1997 in a £1.75m deal, making 25 appearances for Arsenal before leaving for Southampton for an initial fee of £500,000 in August 1999.
• Among the players who have represented both clubs are Jeremie Aliadiere, James Bigden, Jimmy Bloomfield, Liam Brady, Dick Curtis, George Burgess, Kaba Diawara, Ted Drake, Stan Earle, Bert Fletcher, Ron Greenwood, Eddie Hapgood, John Hartson, Les Henley, Fergie Hunt, James Jackson, Bernard Joy, Fred Kemp, Tom Lee, Harry Lewis, William Linwood, Fredrik Ljungberg, Roddy MacEachrane, Jimmy Marshall, David Noble, John Radford, Stewart Robson, Charles Satterthwaite, Laurie Scott, Rami Shaaban, Bill Sidley, Bob Stevenson, Davor Suker, Charlie Walker, Nigel Winterburn, Ian Wright and Richard Wright.
General information
Tickets for the match are now on general sale. For ticket information, click here. For details on getting to the Boleyn Ground, click here
Weather: Sunday's forecast is for a clear, bright day with temperatures getting no higher than 3C.