United v West Ham Preview

After taking an eternity to see off the resilient challenge of Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, Sir Alex Ferguson will be hoping that his side can see off the challenge of West Ham United without going a goal behind before we get into our stride. But West Ham, who put in a poor performance in losing at White Hart Lane on Sunday, will be keen to pull off a shock. Who`ll emerge victorious? Manchester United I hope.

Ahead of the game, Sir Alex Ferguson has praised his West Ham counterpart, Sam Allardyce, by remarking,
'What was his mandate? To get them up into the Premier League as quickly as possible and he got them up within a year. Tell me someone else who could've done that."
'He's very underrated, it's as simple as that.'

Well he does seem to deliver the goods.

As for the biggest threat West Ham have, Wayne Rooney has remarked,

'Andy Carroll is a handful. He is physical and makes it hard for opponents.
'That type of player doesn't always get all the goals but they can cause trouble up front and create problems.'

We have been warned.

Sir Alex Ferguson has already intimated that Anderson, after fine recent performances, will start. With Paul Scholes suspended, we suspect that Anderson will fill the void left by the veterans absence.

Elsewhere, Sir Alex is still without Nemanja Vidic whilst Antonio Valencia will be subjected to a late fitness test.

Coming off the bench he has totally transformed our play, the big question being can he do it from the start and for ninety minutes.

Sam Allardyce brings his squad to Old Trafford with several key players unavailable through injury. Definitely out are Jack Collison, Ricardo Vaz Te and Yossi Benayoun.

Matters are also complicated with the combative Mark Noble missing through suspension.

Rated as doubtful is George McCartney who picked up an ankle injury against Spurs.

Our defence seems troubled by powerful strikers, remember Villa Park anyone? Could the pony-tailed striker be one to trouble us, despite only scoring once in his time at Upton Park so far?

Recent stats show that United definitely have the edge when it comes to recent matches winning the last 7 league games and out-scoring West Ham by 21 goals to 3

Another stat shows that we`re unbeaten in 31 games against promoted clubs, it`d be a shame to let that record go down the pan wouldn`t it?

Our officials are:- Referee - M. Jones Assistants - R. Garfield and G. Beswick Fourth Official - J. Moss.

I know we`ll probably fall behind, it is something we`re just good at. But I`ve every confidence in our side and I reckon it`ll be a comfortable United win, possibly by three clear goals once we get into our stride.

This weekend we travel to Berkshire to take on another promoted side in Reading.

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