Barclays Premier League
West Ham United v Manchester City
Boleyn Ground
Sunday 9 May 2010
4pm
Referee: Howard Webb
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Introduction
• West Ham United play host to Manchester City in their final fixture of the 2009/10 Barclays Premier League season knowing victory could see them finish as high as 14th. City, meanwhile, must win to be sure of ending the season in fifth place ahead of Aston Villa.
• Should the Hammers win, and Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic and Wolverhampton Wanderers not, then Gianfranco Zola's side will finish 14th.
• The Hammers have lost just two of the 14 final day matches they have contested in the Premier League, and have not lost their closing fixture since going down to a 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough on 19 May 2001 - nine seasons ago.
• Manchester City have enjoyed a good run of results at the Boleyn Ground in recent years, winning on two of their last four visits to east London - 1-0 in December 2006 and 2-0 on the opening day of the 2007/08 season in Sven-Goran Eriksson's first match in charge.
• West Ham won the most recent meeting between the two sides at the Boleyn Ground, when Jack Collison's clever finish handed his team a 1-0 victory on 1 March 2009.
• West Ham United's biggest victories over Manchester City both came in the same season - 1962/63. A 6-1 home Division One success on 18 May 1963 was preceded by victory by the same margin in the away fixture on 8 September 1962.
• This is the 89th meeting between the two sides. West Ham have come out on top on 35 occasions with 14 draws.
Last meeting
• Manchester City beat West Ham United 3-1 at the City of Manchester Stadium on 29 September 2009.
• Former Hammer of the Year Carlos Tevez scored twice, tapping in Martin Petrov's low cross after five minutes and heading in to complete the scoring just after the hour-mark. In between, Carlton Cole had equalised by flicking Radoslav Kovac's wayward shot before Petrov drove a low free-kick around the wall and past Robert Green to put the hosts back in front.
The teams that day were -
West Ham United: Green, Faubert, Da Costa, Tomkins, Ilunga, Diamanti, Kovac (Stanislas 71), Parker, Noble, Jimenez (Hines 71), Cole
Subs: Kurucz, Spector, Nouble, Payne, 'Gala
Goal: Cole 24
Manchester City: Given, Zabaleta, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Wright-Phillips (Santa Cruz 80), De Jong, Barry (Johnson 89), Petrov, Tevez, Bellamy
Subs: Taylor, Richards, Garrido, Sylvinho, Weiss
Goals: Tevez 5, 61, Petrov 32
Last time out
Sunday 2 May 2010
Barclays Premier League
Fulham 3-2 West Ham United
West Ham United: Green, Faubert (Diamanti 61), Da Costa, Upson,Spector, Behrami (Stanislas 82), Kovac, Parker, Noble, Cole,Ilan (Franco 61)
Subs: Kurucz, Gabbidon, Boa Morte, Daprela
Goals: Cole 61, Franco 90
Wednesday 5 May 2010
Barclays Premier League
Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester City: Fulop, Zabaleta, Toure, Kompany, Bridge,Adam Johnson (Wright-Phillips 71), De Jong, Barry (Vieira 57),Bellamy (Santa Cruz 84), Tevez, Adebayor
Subs: Nielsen, Richards, Onuoha, Sylvinho
Referee
• Sunday's referee will be Howard Webb.
• Webb began officiating in Yorkshire in 1989. Webb was appointed as a Football League assistant referee in 1996, fulfilling the same role in the Barclays Premier League in 1998.
• The 38-year-old took charge of his first Barclays Premier League match as a referee in October 2003, and has since been the man-in-the-middle for a host of high-profile fixtures.
• Webb refereed the 2005 FA Community Shield, 2006 FA Trophy final and 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, as well as taking charge of his first UEFA Champions League match in 2006.
• The former police officer was referee for the 2007 Carling Cup final and was selected as England's representative at Euro 2008, taking charge of the first match of the tournament between Austria and Poland and the Group D fixture between Greece and eventual champions Spain.
• Last season, Webb was in charge of three West Ham United matches, the 3-0 loss at Manchester City in August, the 2-0 home win over Hull City in late January, and the 2-1 final-day victory over Middlesbrough in May.
• This season he took charge of the 3-1 Carling Cup defeat by Bolton Wanderers on 22 September, the 2-1 loss at Burnley on 6 February, and the 2-2 draw at Everton on 4 April.
Old boys
• There could be a couple of familiar faces on show on Sunday.
• Craig Bellamy scored seven goals in 24 league games for West Ham United between July 2007 and January 2009. He moved to Manchester City for an undisclosed fee on 19 January 2009.
• He could be joined in attack by former Hammer of the Year Carlos Tevez, who left the Boleyn Ground to join City's great cross-town rivals Manchester United at the end of the 2006/07 season. He joined the blue half of the city for an undisclosed fee in June 2009.
• Other famous faces to have played for both clubs are Ian Bishop, James Cumming, Justin Fashanu, David James, Patrick Leonard, Steve Lomas, Trevor Morley, John Payne, Stuart Pearce, Trevor Sinclair, Paulo Wanchope and Mark Ward.
Last six meetings
Head to head (last six meetings, league unless stated)
29 Sept 2009 - Manchester City 3-1 West Ham United
1 March 2009 - West Ham United 1-0 Manchester City
24 August 2008 - Manchester City 3-0 West Ham United
20 January 2008 - Manchester City 1-1 West Ham United
16 January 2008 - Manchester City 1-0 West Ham United (FA Cup)
5 January 2008 - West Ham United 0-0 Manchester City (FA Cup)
Overall record v Manchester City (all competitions) W 35 D 14 L 40
West Ham United
• West Ham United are seeking their third successive home win, having defeated Sunderland 1-0 and Wigan Athletic 3-2 in their last two matches at the Boleyn Ground.
• Should the Hammers fail to win, they will set an all-time record for the lowest number of victories ever recorded in a top-flight campaign with eight.
• Robert Green will complete a third consecutive ever-present league season in the West Ham goal if he starts on Sunday. England's No1 has started 126 consecutive Barclays Premier League games. However, Green did miss 17 minutes when he was substituted late in the 4-0 home defeat by Manchester United on 5 December.
• Carlton Cole goes into Sunday as West Ham's leading goalscorer this season with ten - all of which have been scored in the league and nine have come from open play. Alessandro Diamanti has netted eight times, including one in the FA Cup third-round defeat by Arsenal.
• Should Julien Faubert start on Sunday, he will be making his 50th league start for West Ham United.
• Manuel da Costa (pictured) made his league debut for West Ham at Manchester City on 29 September 2009.
Manchester City
• Manchester City must win to guarantee fifth place in the Barclays Premier League table, having missed out on a lucrative place in next season's UEFA Champions League after losing 1-0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
• City have won only six of 18 league games away from home this season, but are unbeaten in their last six away league matches - a run stretching back to a 2-1 defeat at Hull City on 6 February.
• Carlos Tevez, who scored the winner for West Ham at Manchester United on the final day of the season three years ago, has scored three times in five matches against the Hammers since moving to Old Trafford in summer 2007, including two for City in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
• Tevez is City's leading goalscorer with 29 in all competitions, including 23 in the league. Emmanuel Adebayor, with 14, and Craig Bellamy, with ten, have also reached double figures.
• Tevez needs one goal on Sunday to become the second South American to score 50 Premier League goals. The first was Gianfranco Zola's former Chelsea team-mate and Uruguayan international, Gus Poyet.
• Bellamy actually made his debut for West Ham in the 2-0 home defeat by City on 11 August 2007. Javier Garrido and Petrov both made their City debuts in the same game.
• Injured goalkeeper Shay Given has started more league games than any other City player this season with 35. Gareth Barry has started 34, while Tevez has started 32 and appeared twice more as a substitute.
• Manchester City are unbeaten at home in the league to West Ham since April 2003, winning three of four matches.
Team news
• Jack Collison has had a knee cartilage operation and will be out of action for around nine months. The Wales midfielder has not played since the 3-0 defeat at Manchester United in February because of the injury. He has undergone surgery and, having begun his rehabiltation, will hope to return as soon as he can in the new campaign.
• Collison joins Zavon Hines on the long-term injured list, with the new Young Hammer of the Year hoping to be back in pre-season.
• Herita Ilunga and Kieron Dyer are also expected to figure fully from July after muscle problems respectively, while Valon Behrami has a knee knock and will miss the last game of the season.
• The manager could consider James Tomkins and Luis Boa Morte for Sunday's visit of Manchester City after both came through the midweek Tony Carr testimonial unscathed. It would be Boa Morte's first Premier League appearance since the 2-1 win over Middlesbrough on the final day of last season.
• Manchester City will definitely be without England midfielder Barry, who has suffered an ankle injury and is expected to be out of action for a month.
• Stephen Ireland (ankle), Michael Johnson (knee), Petrov (knee), Given (shoulder) and defender Joleon Lescott (hamstring) are also ruled out of Sunday's game.
General information
• Sunday's match is completely sold out.
• The weather forecast is for sunny intervals with a top temperature of around 11C.