Hammers to train at St George's Park

West Ham United will make use of the Football Association's state-of-the-art St George's Park training facility on Friday as they prepare for their Barclays Premier League match at Stoke City.

The 330-acre site near Burton-on-Trent offers the perfect stop-off for the Hammers, as the venue offers first-class training facilities and accomodation as Sam Allardyce's men return to action two weeks after their last fixture.

Big Sam has high praise for the National Football Centre and he believes training there will give his team the best possible preparation for the Britannia Stadium clash.

"We're training at St George's Park on Friday," Big Sam confirmed. "It's just down the road from Stoke, we trained there last year too, and it's one of the few places that you can travel to and then train [at the same venue].

"If the opportunity arises that you can travel and then train, rather than train here and then travel, it's a better opportunity to get the lads together.

St George's Park

England in a St George's Park training session

"It's a fantastic facility at St George's Park and a different environment too. When you're stuck at one training ground for ten months of the year, to get away and train at a facility as good as that is a nice end to the week, to get the players focused to play.

"It's very good from my point of view. The quality of the hotel is one of the key elements as well as the facilities. It's tucked away in the country somewhat, so it's nice and quiet and there are no distractions.

"The meeting rooms are fantastic, the analysis rooms are fantastic, as well as the playing and changing facilities.

"Certainly for me, it's a really good facility to be able to use."

St George's Park

The indoor pitch facilities at St George's Park