West Ham Vs Sunderland Official Sunderland Not606 Match Thread please log in to view this image Upton Park please log in to view this image West Ham welcome fellow strugglers Sunderland to Upton Park in a real relegation six-pointer for both sides. West Ham find themselves nervously looking over their shoulders, sitting just above the drop zone on goal difference. Sam Allardyce goes into the game with his position under scrutiny after seeing his side drop down the table following four defeats in their last five Premier League games. West Ham will be hoping to ease the pressure on Allardyce and put further daylight between themselves and basement boys Sunderland with all three points at Upton Park. However, Sunderland are unbeaten in their last four matches with the Hammers and a win over West Ham would close the gap between the two sides to just two points. Sunderland remain rooted to the bottom of the table and five points adrift of safety after only picking up eight points from their first 15 games. The Black Cats have a miserable away record having only collected two points on their travels so far this season. After securing impressive wins against Newcastle and Manchester City, Sunderland have lost three of their last four games to leave them in danger of being cast adrift at the bottom. West Ham Team News West Ham manager Sam Allardyce will be without suspended captain Kevin Nolan for the visit of Sunderland, with the Hammers also missing several first-team players through injury. Nolan is banned after picking up a red card in the 4-1 defeat at Liverpool while Winston Reid (ankle), Stewart Downing (calf), Andy Carroll (heel), Ricardo Vaz Te (shoulder), Mladen Petric (thigh) and Alou Diarra (knee) are all sidelined. James Collins and Guy Demel are also struggling due to illness but Allardyce is hoping to have both available alongside James Tomkins and Ravel Morrison, who both return to the squad. Sunderland Team News Sunderland boss Gus Poyet has no fresh selection problems ahead of the trip to Upton Park. Only keeper Keiren Westwood (shoulder) and defender Carlos Cuellar (hip) remain on the casualty list and, with Vito Mannone the man in possession in goal, and John O'Shea and Wes Brown having secured the central defensive berths in recent weeks, their respective absences have not proved too problematic. The Black Cats head for Upton Park sitting at the foot of the table and five points adrift of Crystal Palace, Fulham and the Hammers, and in desperate need of a first win in five attempts in the league. Allardyce [video=youtube;ULP20nux5CU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ULP20nux5CU[/video] Poyet [video=youtube;F4OvfAGVNys]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F4OvfAGVNys[/video] One To Watch please log in to view this image West Ham play direct and often struggle to retain possession, Ki doesn't so we'll be expecting him to pull all the strings against an Injury hit West Ham. Last 4 Meetings [table="width: 500, class: grid, align: center"] [tr] [td]Season[/td] [td]Date[/td] [td]Home[/td] [td]Score[/td] [td]Away[/td] [td]Competition[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]2012/2013[/td] [td]12th Jan[/td] [td]Sunderland[/td] [td]3-0[/td] [td]West Ham[/td] [td]Premier League[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][/td] [td]22nd Sept[/td] [td]West Ham[/td] [td]1-1[/td] [td]Sunderland[/td] [td]Premier League[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]2010/2011[/td] [td]22nd May[/td] [td]West Ham[/td] [td]0-3[/td] [td]Sunderland[/td] [td]Premier League[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][/td] [td]5th Dec[/td] [td]Sunderland[/td] [td]1-0[/td] [td]West Ham[/td] [td]Premier League[/td] [/tr] [/table] What the 'Experts' Say please log in to view this image Lawrenson Where do I start with this one? West Ham cannot score, and Sunderland cannot win away. After a run of four defeats in five games, Hammers fans are starting to chunter about Sam Allardyce but he is big enough and strong enough to take it. I would like to think Sunderland might win a game away from home one day but that day will not be Saturday. I think West Ham will be into them and harass them from the start because Allardyce knows the importance of three points from this fixture. He definitely needs them, because the Hammers play Manchester United away and Arsenal at home either side of Christmas. Lawro's prediction: 2-0 Merson West Ham are struggling. They've got no Andy Carroll or Kevin Nolan and if you take away the Fulham result they haven't really looked like winning any games. Sunderland need to get winning quickly, losing their last two games - I know it was against Chelsea and Tottenham - but I still think losing both at home makes this another must win game. If they lose this, West Ham go eight points ahead of them which means they need to win three games to catch up and I think that would be too much. I know it's only early but they've only won two in 15. I think if they lose they're not far from bring relegated. I'm not being horrible but Sunderland need to keep West Ham down there in that scrap. PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 What Smug Might Say Stats Against West Ham Games won:31 Games drawn:21 Games lost: 32 Sunderland have now scored five own goals this season; at least three more than any other Premier League side. Only Everton (8) have kept more clean sheets in the Premier League than West Ham (7) this season. Sunderland have dropped the most points from winning positions in the Premier League this season (11). Betting please log in to view this image Links please log in to view this image
Seeing their injury/suspended list has perked me up, Reid Tomkins Rat downing Carroll Nolan Vaz Te. I do.hope though that Poyet isn't fooled into thinking 4-4-2 will work. We clearly work better with the 4-5-1 come 4-2-3-1. Id like to see; ---------------------Mannone--------------------- Celsutka------Oshea-------Brown-------Bardsley -----------------Ki---------Colback----------------- Johnson----------Giaccherini---------------Borini ---------------------Altidore------------------------- Still plenty of attacking options but better balance than risking Fletcher and Altidore up top together and it obviously gives us options from the bench. If Marriner wasn't ref id consider Catts in for Colback but with a card happy ref its not worth the risk
Against 442 also. This is the perfect game to play possession with a five man midfield. Jozy will bring others into play. Better than getting just a couple of chances with a light midfield being pushed back by the home team .
Will West Ham play any strikers ? or will they play another game in the 5 5 formation? I guess their fans wont be too happy if Big Sam doesnt try to attack us, so I'm hoping we will be able to control the midfield
I'm going on Saturday, really up for it now. Parker are they all definitely injured?! Ravel Morrison banned? This is a BIG opportunity for an away win. We won't get many more after this!
---------------------Mannone--------------------- Celsutka------Oshea-------Brown-------Dossena -----------------Catts-------------------------- --------------Ki------Giacc--------------------- Borini------------------------------------Johnson ---------------------Altidore-------------------- I'd play that team, going to the game. Would be nice to see a win for a change!
