Preview: West Ham v Man Utd

Posted Tuesday, November 30, 2010 by Football.co.uk

West Ham United face the daunting prospect of welcoming Premier League champions Manchester United to Upton Park on Saturday with both teams needing a win to aid their differing aspirations.

The Hammers will have been happy to smash five past Burnley last weekend but, after leading 5-0, they let three late goals in which will have disheartened boss Gianfranco Zola.

Despite this, the win has slightly eased relegation fears and they now sit one place outside the drop zone.

The Red Devils remain five points behind leaders Chelsea as they look to create history this term by claiming a fourth successive Premier League title.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men will be striving to remain in touch with their near rivals and with Chelsea facing a tough trip to Manchester City, now could be the time to pounce.

Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick in the 4-1 weekend success at Portsmouth and he will want to be adding more goals to his record in London.

Ferguson unleashed many of his young starlets in their midweek Carling Cup quarter-final success against Tottenham Hotspur with Darron Gibson bagging both goals in the 2-0 win and he will have been impressed with the performances of Belgian defender Ritchie de Laet, who made his first start for the club, and strike pair Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda.

Defensive trio Rio Ferdinand (calf), Jonny Evans (calf) and John O'Shea (thigh) could all be ruled out while goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar (knee) may struggle to regain his fitness in time.

Owen Hargreaves (knee) is still a long-term absentee.

Zola has many injury concerns of his own with influential centre-half Matthew Upson (hamstring) facing a race against time to be fit.

England strike pairing Carlton Cole (knee) and Dean Ashton (ankle) will both be missing as will Portugal man Luis Boa Morte (cruciate ligament).

However, the diminutive Italian will take confidence from the reversal in fortunes that has seen his side lost just one of their last six games.

Ferguson's men claimed a 1-0 victory last term thanks to the evergreen Ryan Giggs.

The Welshman showed his usual wing wizardry as he cut in from the left, beat the challenge of Carlton Cole and Valon Behrami before slamming home with his right foot past the outstretched dive of Robert Green.

A narrow but important victory on the day in February for the champions and Ferguson would surely take a repeat this weekend.