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!

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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)

The guy is world-class, there is no doubt about that  and I won’t be forgetting his free-kick against the Spuds for a very long-time…particularly his celebration! Stuff what legends are made of! I have no doubt there will be rapturous applause for Tevez if he plays tonight, I just hope he doesn’t decide to go and score himself a wonder-goal like last season!

(For the record I personally don’t think he was the only reason we stayed up. It’s just some money-grabbing chairman up north seems to think he has proved it. Banter)

Team News

Man United: Ferguson has the option tonight of recalling ex West Ham midfielder Micheal Carrick back into the side after a spell out with injury.

Man Utd (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Foster, Brown, Neville, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, Evra, O’Shea, Carrick, Ronaldo, Park, Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs, Nani, Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez.

West Ham: Carlton Cole will be missing tonight, althuogh not necessarily missed. He is suspended after his late red-card against Arsenal on Sunday. Mark Noble also remains out with a calf injury. Lucas Neill also misses the game with a virus but we are able to recall Valon Behrami back into the fray. Diego Tristan will not be playing tonight as Zola still doesn’t think he is fit enough.

West Ham (from): Green, Faubert, Neill, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami, Parker, Di Michele, Bellamy, Etherington, Sears, Lastuvka, Lopez, Boa Morte, Mullins, Davenport, Bowyer, Collins.

Noises From Zola

We just have to accept that sometimes there are bad moments and things don’t go your way. When that happens you have to be strong and believe it is the right way to make it work. ‘If you analyse the last three matches, the defensive part of our game was not that bad

We have conceded goals but in general I am happy with the way the defence is working. We are going to be fine, I am one hundred per cent convinced about this. We have a few problems at the moment but we will sort them out… Daily Mail

Personally I completely agree with him, we have been playing decent football and defensively we have been sound. Quick mention for James Collins on that note, he was immense against Arsenal mid-week and when Neill is fit, Zola is going to have some selection problems defensively (should Neill replace Faubert?)

His optimisim and enthusiasm continues to impress me…if we can find our shooting boots, I think we are in with a chance tonight. But I am ever an optimist.

Prediction

Well, as I said above, I am ever an optimist, so I am going for a 1-0 Win. Realistically however(!) I think that Man U will probably be just too strong for us over the 90mins and we will go down 2-1. Which would mean 4 defeats on the trot…time to panic? I don’t think so…

Sam