Here’s a brief round up of today’s team news, followed by a link to my new live Twitter discussion feature (or if that’s what you’ve come here for, then CLICK HERE to get chatting)

West Ham

- Carlton Cole is the latest to be added to our injury list. He won’t be around until sometime into the New Year.
- Upson is out with a hamstring injury, although will be back for the trip to Birmingham
- Behrami has had to have some more surgery on his knee. Although not major and will likely return during before Christmas.
- Noble has recovered from a calf strain but now has a cold
- Jimenez has picked up a ‘muscle problem’, whatever that may be. Even the official site is not sure whether either will be considered today.

- Diamanti has returned to full training
- As has Dyer who also has a couple of reserve games under his belt – scoring a brace in one.

Manchester United

- Jonny Evans, Rio Feridnand and John ‘O Shea all miss out
- Other than that, they have no fresh injury concerns

- Edwin van der Sar returns between the sticks

All things considered….

So odds are not in our favour today – infact you can get 13-2 at PaddyPower for a West Ham win. Great.

However, as I like to remain an optimist, I’m confident that if we get big performances today from the likes of Parker, Franco, Green then we can give this a good shot. Parker has been outstanding so far this year and has been a rock for us in the last couple of games. Franco is proving himself to be an intelligent, passionate striker perfect for alongside Cole. Without Cole however, I’m confident that if you put the pace of Hines alongside him that we can cause some problems amongst a significantly weakened United back line.

I can’t see us keeping a clean sheet and chances are Giggs will probably bag himself one, as he always seems to do against us.

We should see some goals today and if our boys really step up to the plate then we may come away with more than just a pat on the back and a “good effort” from Zola. In fact I think we could really suprise a few people today – particularly, as I say, their backline is weak. If Vidic decides that it will be a walk in the park and Franco and Hines (or whoever) are pumped up for it, then anything can happen.

However…

If we’re not up for it, or decide to do anything other than play with an attacking mentality, then it could very well be am hammering. Unfortunately. But let’s not dwell, three points it is from me.

IRONS!

———–

Twitter users: It’s time to trial my new conversationally based mathday feature! Please click on the Twitter logo below, drop tweet deck (or whatever) for 90mins and make this page the hub of all things West Ham v United (or CLICK HERE to get chatting)

(If you’re not a Twitter user, then you can still click on the logo above to get a feel what people are saying about the game. IRONS)

Being perfectly honest, I’ve never seen the fella play. He has Champions League experience (as did, I believe, Tristan?) and had a decent goalscoring record before his move to Villareal. Hi goals to games ratio there wasn’t quite as good as his original club, so I’ve no expectations of him scoring 20 goals this year – but nonetheless the guy is clearly excited about the opportunity and will be fighting for his place in the Mexican World Cup squad,, which can only be a good thing for us

Here’s his comments on the Offical Site:

“I am really happy to sign for West Ham. It was my dream to come to the Premier League and I am proud to play for a club that has so much history. This is a very important stage in my career and I hope to score lots of goals for the club this season and then play at the World Cup. “This is an important team with great players and a great manager. I know that the club are very ambitious and want to do well. I want to do my best to make that happen and I am excited about the challenge”

Personally, I’m thinking it could work to be a good bit of business…at the very least he will provide us with an alternative up top, which we so desperately need at the minute.

In other news:

Lucash Neil is looking set to sign for Everton, or at least have a medical. I hope that the club and the fans of Everton are fully aware that they will be signing a player who puts in his best performances when he contract is about to expire. So don’t expect much for a while, apart from possibly the feeling of being financially raped by a ‘has been’.

IRONS

Sam