West Ham United v Manchester United – Match Preview

Keane is a player who I have always rated, even though Ferguson hasn’t and as a result it’s fashionable for United fans not to rate him either.  I will give in that he’s rarely caused United problems in the past, and that further gives me confidence that we wont be troubled much in front of goal this weekend.

In midfield, it might be a different story.  Scott Parker, if fit, will skipper the West Ham side, and will cause us problems if not dealt with.  Our midfield will be anyone’s pick from Nani, Valencia, Giggs, Gibson, and Carrick.  I think Parker is the better man out of them at the moment, and some excellent displays over recent weeks have coincided with an upturn in West Ham’s fortunes.  Maybe the key to this game will be to keep Scott Parker quiet, and if we can do that we’ll be fairly comfortable.  But to do that, we’ll need a stronger midfielder than him, and at the moment I don’t think we have one.

Hernandez and Rooney both figured in internationalzzzzzzzzzz (sorry, nodded off) during the last week, and Berbatov has been benched a number of times of late.  It’s likely that Berba will come back in to the side against West Ham, at the expense of one of other two front men.  I reckon Rooney will keep his place, for the reason that Hernandez is bang in form, our biggest threat in front of goal, and isn’t Wayne Rooney.

One final positive for United is West Ham’s form this season.  Woeful by their standards, and Avram Grant hasn’t been able to instil the winning mentality that he had with Chelsea when he led them to the Champions League final in 2008.  They go in to this game one point above the drop zone, level on points with Wolves, and only better off than them by 1 goal.

Fast Facts:

• Wayne Rooney has scored five goals in his eight Premier League appearances for United against West Ham United.
• Rooney is two goals short of 100 league goals for the reds
• Paul Ince joined United from West Ham after he posed in a United shirt. He left the reds and slagged Untied off. He left Liverpool and had a go at them too. Then Middlesbrough got rid of him and he bad mouthed them. He’s not liked much at his former clubs isn’t Big Time Charlie.
• “We lost the league at Upton Park” in 1995. Apparently. Don’t believe me? The Hammers fans still sing it to us, 16 years later.

Ref Watch

Lee Mason is the referee who allowed a last minute Lee Bowyer goal stand against United when we visited Birmingham earlier in the season.  Hailing from Bolton, Mason dished out an average of 3 yellow cards per game last year, and only handed out one red card every five. This season has been slightly higher, with four yellows per game, and five red cards in 26 games.  However, his yellow card count wasn’t helped with the nine he showed during the Chelsea v Villa game on 2^nd January, or the eight he dished out between Arsenal and Everton a month later.

With Sir Alex missing through suspension, and claiming in the press that he doesn’t have anything against referee’s, it’ll be interested to see how Mason tackles this game, with much riding for both clubs at either end of the table.

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