WEST HAM UNITED v PORTSMOUTH
npower CHAMPIONSHIP
SATURDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2011
KICK-OFF: 3PM
FULL AUDIO AND TEXT COMMENTARY - WEST HAM TV
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Introduction
• West Ham United go into their fourth home fixture of the season - third in the npower Championship - still seeking their first victory at the Boleyn Ground. The Hammers have lost to Cardiff City (1-0) and drawn with Leeds United (2-2) before being knocked out of the Carling Cup at the first-round stage for the first time by League Two side Aldershot Town on 24 August.
• Ahead of the Kids for a Quid fixture, West Ham United go into the weekend fifth, with ten points from five matches, while Portsmouth are 12th, with six points from five matches.
• Since that defeat by The Shots, the Hammers have been busy in the transfer market, bringing in striker Sam Baldock from MK Dons, Senegal midfielder Papa Bouba Diop on a free transfer, Ivory Coast right-back Guy Demel from Hamburger SV as well as Paraguay U20 striker Brian Montenegro, England U21 captain Henri Lansbury and England midfielder David Bentley on season-long loan deals from Deportivo Maldonado, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.
• Portsmouth have also been busy, bringing in 6'5 Hungarian striker Marko Futacs following the player's release by Werder Bremen. Futacs became Pompey's ninth summer signing following the arrivals of goalkeeper Stephen Henderson from Bristol City, defenders Jason Pearce from Bournemouth and Greg Halford from Wolverhampton Wanderers, midfielders David Norris from Ipswich Town and Jed Wallace from Lewes and strikers Erik Huseklepp from AS Bari, Luke Varney from Derby County and Benjani from Manchester City.
• Steve Cotterill's side have made an inconsistent start to the 2011/12 season, defeating Reading (1-0), drawing at Middlesbrough (2-2) and Bristol City (0-0) and losing 1-0 at home to south coast rivals Brighton & Hove Albion. However, they are unbeaten in their previous three npower Championship fixtures.
• Portsmouth also suffered a first-round exit in the Carling Cup at the hands of League Two opposition, losing 1-0 at home to Barnet on 9 August.
• West Ham United and Portsmouth met at the Boleyn Ground 84 years ago on 10 September 1927, with the Hammers running out 4-2 Division One winners. James Loughin scored twice for West Ham, with Stan Earle and Jimmy Ruffell also on target.
• Portsmouth have won on three of their previous five visits to the Boleyn Ground. Prior to that, West Ham were unbeaten in nine home matches against Pompey.
• West Ham United's biggest home win over Portsmouth occurred when the newly-promoted Hammers recorded a 6-0 Division One victory on 20 December 1958. Vic Keeble scored twice and John Smith, Phil Woosnam, John Dick and Malcolm Musgrove once each in front of 31,500 supporters.
• Portsmouth's biggest victory at the Boleyn Ground took place on 18 March 2006, when Pompey ran out 4-2 Premier League winners. Lomano LuaLua, Sean Davis and Pedro Mendes put Portsmouth 3-0 up before Teddy Sheringham pulled a goal back. Svetoslav Todorov added a fourth before Yossi Benayoun scored a last-minute consolation.
• There are several connections between the clubs with Tal Ben Haim, Hayden Mullins, Papa Bouba Diop, Gary O'Neil, Frederic Piquionne and Matt Taylor all having played for both clubs. Hammers development coach Ian Hendon also appeared for Pompey during his playing days.
• John Carew celebrated his 32nd birthday on Monday, and then won his 90th cap off the bench for Norway on Tuesday as they lost 2-0 away to Denmark in a UEFA EURO qualifier. His compatriot Erik Huseklepp, the Portsmouth striker, started the game up front.
• Jack Collison won his eleventh cap for Wales with 85 minutes in their 1-0 defeat by England at Wembley - his first competitive appearance for the principality.
• On-loan midfielder Henri Lansbury also had an international week to remember, with three goals in two Under-21 dates with England as well as wearing the captain's armband for the second half of Monday's 3-1 win against Israel in Barnsley.
Team news
West Ham United
• Sam Allardyce should have Robert Green available after a finger problem caused him to withdraw from international duty with England.
• He will have to decide which of his new recruits - namely Sam Baldock, David Bentley, Guy Demel, Henri Lansbury and Brian Montenegro - to include. Junior Stanislas and Zavon Hines both departed for Burnley in the closing week of the transfer window. Papa Bouba Diop will not be involved for certain as he was in France all week awaiting his visa.
• Peter Kurucz (knee) and Gary O'Neil (ankle) are both definitely out with long-term injuries.
• Pablo Barrera and Jordan Spence are on season-long loans at Real Zaragoza and Bristol City respectively. Ahmed Abdulla (Swindon Town), Jordan Brown (Aldershot Town), Olly Lee (Dagenham & Redbridge) and Cristian Montano (Notts County) are all out on temporary loans.
Portsmouth
• Portsmouth could hand a debut to Hungarian striker Marko Futacs after the big forward joined the club from German side Werder Bremen during the closing days of the transfer window.
• Former West Ham United midfielder Hayden Mullins is expected to be fit to play after picking up a groin injury in the 1-1 home npower Championship draw with Cardiff City on 27 August.
• Ex-Hammers loanee Tal Ben Haim was sent-off while playing for Israel in Croatia in a midweek EURO 2012 qualifier and has been suffering from a minor back problem, but it expected to be fit.
• Erik Huseklepp (Norway), Hermann Hreidarsson (Iceland) and Marko Futacs (Hungary) have all been given a clean bill of health following their return from international duty.
• Liam Lawrence (Republic of Ireland) travelled with his country to Russia in midweek, but did not feature in the goalless EURO 2012 qualifying draw.
• Pompey have released former West Ham United and Scotland defender Christian Dailly after a short spell at Fratton Park.
Last time out
Sunday 28 August 2011
npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1-4 West Ham United
West Ham United: Green, O'Brien, McCartney, Reid, Tomkins, Collison (Faye 75), Noble, Nolan, Faubert, Taylor, Cole (Piquionne 68)
Subs not used: Boffin, Stanislas, Carew
Goals: Chambers 21 (own-goal), Nolan 24, Cole 32, Reid 77
Saturday 27 August 2011
Portsmouth 1-1 Cardiff City
Portsmouth: Ashdown, Halford, Ben Haim, Pearce, Ward, Lawrence, Mullins, Huseklepp (Benjani 61), Norris, Kitson, Varney (Kanu 76)
Subs not used: Henderson, Mokoena, Rocha
Goals: Kanu 80
Previous meetings
• The teams last met for a goalless draw at Fratton Park on Tuesday 26 January 2010 - the first match under the club's new owners David Sullivan and David Gold:
West Ham United: Green, Faubert, Tomkins (Da Costa 81), Upson, Spector, Diamanti (Stanislas 87), Kovac, Behrami, Noble, Collison, Nouble (Cole 73)
Subs not used: Stech, Daprela, Jimenez, Sears
Portsmouth: Begovic, Finnan, Kaboul, Wilson, Hreidarsson, Basinas, Mokoena, Mullins (Vanden Borre 64), Boateng, Utaka, Piquionne (Webber 73)
Subs not used: Ashdown, Ben Haim, Hughes, Ritchie
• The teams last meeting at the Boleyn Ground came on Boxing Day 2009 when a 23rd-minute penalty from Alessandro Diamanti was added to by Radoslav Kovac's 89th-minute header to secure a 2-0 win for the hosts.
• The London side are unbeaten in four games against the team from the south coast.
• This will be the 35th meeting between the two clubs. West Ham United have 13 wins, with six draws.
Head to head
(Last six meetings, Premier League unless stated)
26 January 2010 - Portsmouth 0-0 West Ham United
26 December 2009 - West Ham United 2-0 Portsmouth
26 December 2008 - Portsmouth 1-4 West Ham United
15 November 2008 - West Ham United 0-0 Portsmouth
8 April 2008 - West Ham United 0-1 Portsmouth
27 October 2007 - Portsmouth 0-0 West Ham United
Overall record v Portsmouth (all competitions): W 13, D 6, L 14
Ten-year records
West Ham United
2010/11 Premier League 20th (33 points)
2009/10 Premier League 17th (35 points)
2008/09 Premier League 9th (51 points)
2007/08 Premier League 10th (49 points)
2006/07 Premier League 15th (41 points)
2005/06 Premier League 9th (55 points)
2004/05 Championship 6th (73 points - promoted to Premier League via play-offs)
2003/04 Championship 4th (74 points)
2002/03 Premier League 18th (42 points - relegated to Championship)
2001/02 Premier League 7th (53 points)
Portsmouth
2010/11 Championship 16th (58 points)
2009/10 Premier League 20th (19 points - relegated to Championship)
2008/09 Premier League 14th (41 points)
2007/08 Premier League 8th (57 points)
2006/07 Premier League 9th (54 points)
2005/06 Premier League 17th (38 points)
2004/05 Premier League 16th (39 points)
2003/04 Premier League 13th (45 points)
2002/03 Championship 1st (98 points - promoted to Premier League)
2001/02 Championship 17th (53 points)
Referee
• Saturday's referee will be Roger East.
• East, 46, will be taking charge of his second npower Championship fixture of 2011/12, having previously refereed Coventry City's goal-less draw with Watford on 20 August.
• In all, the official has refereed exactly 100 Football League, FA Cup and League Cup matches since joining the National List at the start of the 2007/08 season.
• Prior to that, East rose to the top of the game as an assistant referee, running the line at the Millennium Stadium for the FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Millwall in 2004 and the Community Shield in 2006 when Chelsea met Liverpool.
• He was also on the FIFA International List of assistant referees for two years and ran the line in the Premier League for four seasons.
• Today's game will mark the first time he has refereed a West Ham United fixture. The only previous occasion when East took charge of a Portsmouth match was on 19 February this year, when he refereed Pompey's 1-0 home Championship victory over Barnsley.
• East will be assisted by Harry Lennard and Gavin Muge, while today's fourth official will be John Magill.
Old boys
• Potential West Ham United debutant Papa Bouba Diop made 72 first-team appearances for Portsmouth between August 2007 and May 2010, winning the FA Cup in 2008 and finishing as runner-up in the same competition in 2010.
• Hammers winger Matt Taylor spent six seasons at Portsmouth between 2002 and 2008, winning the Division One title in 2003, making 203 first-team appearances and scoring 29 goals.
• West Ham United midfielder Gary O'Neil joined Portsmouth at the age of 13, going on to make 192 appearances and score 17 goals for the club before joining Middlesbrough for £5m in August 2007.
• Portsmouth midfielder Hayden Mullins joined West Ham United from Crystal Palace for a bargain £600,000 in October 2003, going on to make 213 first-team appearances, scoring seven goals before moving to Portsmouth in January 2009. He started the 2010 FA Cup final defeat by Chelsea.
• Pompey defender Tal Ben Haim made 12 appearances in all competitions during a loan spell at West Ham United between July 2010 and January 2011.
• Former West Ham United managers Harry Redknapp and Avram Grant both enjoyed spells in charge at Portsmouth, with Redknapp twice taking the reins at Fratton Park. Redknapp led the club to promotion to the Premier League in 2002/03 and FA Cup glory in 2008, before Grant led Portsmouth to FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea and relegation from the Premier League in 2010.
• Other players to have played for both teams include: Greg Campbell, Lee Chapman, Jermain Defoe, Bill Ford, Hayden Foxe, Shaka Hislop, Billy James, Glen Johnson, Bill Joyce, Alex McDonald, Nicky Morgan, Sebastien Schemmel, Peter Shearing, Teddy Sheringham, Roy Smith, Stephen Smith, Pavel Srnicek, Alan Stephenson, Ron Tindall, Svetoslav Todorov, Charlie Whitchurch.
Up next
• West Ham United go to Millwall on Saturday 17 September for a 12.30pm kick-off against their near-neighbours in the npower Championship.
• Portsmouth travel north to Hull City for a 3pm kick-off in the npower Championship on the same afternoon.
General information
• For Kids for a Quid ticket information, click here. Adult seats start from just £32.
• The weather forecast is for heavy rain showers with a high temperature of 21C (70F).