The background
West Ham United face their first pre-season friendly of the summer on Saturday when they head to Sky Bet League One side Peterborough United.
While the Hammers have already played two UEFA Europa League games this summer, seeing off FC Lusitans of Andorra by a 4-0 aggregate scoreline, a group of senior players have been training in Ireland and have yet to put that work into practice on the pitch.
A trip to Peterborough offers them the opportunity to get that game time into their legs ahead of the start of the new Barclays Premier League season, now just four weeks away.
Peterborough are playing their second warm-up game, having defeated non-league Dulwich Hamlet on Thursday.
They finished ninth last season and will be hopeful of mounting a challenge for promotion to the Championship in 2015/16.
The history
West Ham and Peterborough have met on four previous occasions, with the Hammers coming out on top in all four meetings.
The last set of fixtures came in the 2011/12 campaign when both sides were in the Championship. Sam Allardyce’s men won 1-0 at the Boleyn Ground in September, before Ricardo Vaz Te and Gary O’Neil struck at London Road to give the east Londoners a 2-0 success.
Prior to that, the only other West Ham-Peterborough games came in 1992/93, when the Hammers won 3-1 away and 2-1 at home.
Peterborough were founded in 1934 and have had three spells in the second tier – one in the early 1990s and the latter two in the last decade. Twice League Two winners, their trophy cabinet also contains the Football League Trophy
The match
Team news
West Ham United
Saturday’s game will give Hammers fans a first opportunity to see several first team stars in action this summer.
Manager Slaven Bilic has confirmed that his team will be made up of players who featured in the second training camp in Cork, and therefore missed both legs of the UEFA Europa League tie against FC Lusitans.
That means the likes of Hammer of the Year Aaron Cresswell, Adrian, Mark Noble and new signing Pedro Obiang could feature.
Peterborough United
Peterborough will give first run-outs of the summer to experienced defender Gabriel Zakuani and Michael Bostwick.
Academy graduate Jack Collison could also be involved after signing for the Posh this summer. Collison needs no introduction to Hammers fans, having played 121 games for the Club before moving on last summer.
Another connection between the clubs is Posh assistant boss Grant McCann, who came through the ranks at the Boleyn Ground and made four league appearances for the Club.
Match facts
- This is the first of six friendlies that the Hammers will contest this summer, with matches against Southend, Colchester, Charlton, Norwich and Werder Bremen to follow.
- Jack Collison and Grant McCann provide the links between the two sides, while the Posh’s manager, Dave Robertson, grew up as a Hammers supporter.
- Peterborough have spent the last two seasons in League One, following relegation from the Championship. In 2013/14 they were defeated in the Play-Off semi-finals by Leyton Orient and last term they finished ninth.
- Their ABAX Stadium, traditionally known as London Road, holds 15,314 supporters.
Tickets, travel, weather and coverage
- Directions to the ABAX Stadium can be found here.
- Supporters travelling by train can reach Peterborough from London King’s Cross in around 45 minutes. No engineering work is planned on the line for Saturday
- Tickets for the game will be available at the ABAX Stadium, priced at £15 Adults and £5 Under-18s.
- It looks like a decent day weather wise, with sunny spells and temperatures reaching 23C (73F).
- Head to whufc.com for live text commentary, photos and more, while you can get involved on our social media channels.