Daily WHUFC News - 19th August 2017

Southampton v West Ham: All you need to know
WHUFC.com

West Ham's second test in the Premier League this season comes away at
Southampton. The Saints drew their opening match against Swansea and the
Hammers head to St Mary's having beaten the south coast side 3-1 on their
last trip down the M3.

Read on for all you need to know ahead of Saturday's fixture including team
news, players to watch and much more...

Where and when?

Southampton v West Ham United will be played at St Mary's Stadium on
Saturday 19 August 2017 at 3pm BST.

The stadium address is: Britannia Road, Southampton SO14 5FP

How to follow

You can follow the game live via our Matchday Blog on whufc.com, with
updates also available on Twitter throughout the afternoon. You can also
follow the match in different ways on our official Instagram, Facebook and
Snapchat channels!

Due to being a Saturday 3pm kick-off the match is not available for viewing
in the UK. For worldwide broadcast schedules, click here.

Audio coverage will be provided by TalkSPORT on TalkSPORT2.

Team news

Michail Antonio is expected to return to the first team this weekend, having
come through an U23s contest last Friday unscathed.

Andy Carroll and Cheikhou Kouyate are still out but the duo could be back in
time to feature against Newcastle in a week's time.

Sead Haksabanovic could also be involved after impressing on his debut with
the U21s this week.

Match officials

Referee: Lee Mason
Assistant Referees: Constantine Hatzidakis and Matthew Wilkes
Fourth Official: Neil Swarbrick

Meet the opposition

Southampton started the campaign with a new manager in Mauricio Pellegrino
and earned a 0-0 draw at St Mary's against Swansea City.

The south coast team finished eighth in the Premier League last season, one
point ahead of the Hammers, having returned to the top flight the same year
as West Ham - for the 2012-2013 campaign.

The Saints announced this week that Chinese businessman Jisheng Gao had
purchased an 80% stake in the club, so exciting times are ahead for
Southampton.

Player to watch

Having returned to action with the U23s on Friday Michail Antonio could make
his first Premier League appearance of the season for the Hammers on
Saturday.

Antonio - last season's top scorer - will be a valuable option for Slaven
Bilic to call on as West Ham look to secure a first win of the season at
Antonio's former side.

The versatile attacker brings pace, power and creativity to the West Ham
front-line and will undoubtedly prove a tricky test for Southampton's
defence if he plays.

Head to head

West Ham's last match with Southampton, in February of this year, was also
away from home but the Irons still managed to secure an impressive 3-1 win.

Despite going a goal behind Andy Carroll, Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble all
found the net to give Bilic's team a deserved victory at St Mary's Stadium.

The two clubs have met ten times since returning to the Premier League -
West Ham have won four of those and three have been draws.

Last five meetings

Southampton 1-3 West Ham, Premier League, 4 February 2017
West Ham 0-3 Southampton, Premier League, 25 September 2016
Southampton 1-0 West Ham, Premier League, 6 February 2016
West Ham 2-1 Southampton, Premier League, 28 December 2015
Southampton 0-0 West Ham, Premier League, 11 February 2015

How to get there

By car: From the M25, leave at Junction 12 and merge onto M3 towards
Basingstoke/Southampton. On the M3 exit at Junction 14 towards
A33/Southampton.

Continue onto A27 and then follow signs for the A33. Keep left on the way to
St Andrews Road and turn right onto Britannia Rd/B3038.

Public transport: Shuttle bus services run from Southampton Central railway
station to the stadium, in addition to the regular bus schedule, for a fee
of £2 for a return journey on matchdays. These are also available from the
Town Quay Ferry Terminal.

Those services will begin two hours before the match starts. The service
will be in operation after the match to take passengers back to the railway
station or the ferry terminal.

The service is not a numbered bus service and will simply say 'Stadium
Shuttle' on inbound journeys and 'Rail/Ferry Shuttle' on outbound journeys.

Ticket information

All 3,200 allocated tickets have sold out.

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SLAVEN BILIC'S SOUTHAMPTON PRESS CONFERENCE
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 17 AUGUST 2017 AT 3:35PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk

Can we talk about injuries, is Mikael Antonio fit?

Yes he is ready, he took part in a game last week which was part of the plan
and he looks fit and ready to play, he has been training for two and a half
weeks now. He looks good and ready.

Kouyate and Andy Carroll started training yesterday as well, they have done
a couple of training sessions. We have to see with them because Andy has
had a long layout and Kouyate has had a few weeks off as it happened in the
first training session in Austria. Lanzini is training separately and is
joining in with the full squad on Monday. We should have a full squad back
for the Newcastle game.

Some harsh analysis after Manchester United?

You can't say it is Man United and make excuses we should have done better,
especially when it comes to the last couple of minutes. We didn't give up
individually but we know that it is not very smart. It is not the same if
you lose 2-0 to losing 4-0. I wanted to find the balance between
criticising and talking about what went wrong but we don't want to lose
confidence because of one defeat. We have looked good in training today.
We want to approach the game against Southampton in a positive mood, knowing
what we have to do to get something positive out of the game. Southampton
are consistent, not with managers, but with the way they are playing.

What is the latest on William Carvalho?

I don't know, we will see what happens with ins and outs it has become very
busy at other clubs. I have left it with the board and the chairman. I
concentrate purely on the matches.

Karen Brady said clubs are in favour of the transfer window closing early,
are you?

Yes I would like that to happen we agree with them. It has to be across the
leagues otherwise there is no point. Ironically it would put the clubs in a
worse situation because you will still lose players if clubs from abroad do
not have the same system. It would only protect us that no other premier
league clubs could take our players but it wouldn't stop them from abroad.
For me it is a great idea, some teams are losing 30% of their teams and this
makes it hard. So it would be much better if the window stopped before the
first game of the season and across Europe.

You mentioned Coutinho, similar with Costa, do you have sympathy with these
managers because you had the same thing with Payet?

Of course I do, the new window would stop this when the season started. It
makes it hard to concentrate on games because the window is still open.
Sometimes you are on the other side of the story but definitely it doesn't
help the managers?

Do players have too much power?

What is important and gives you strength as a manager and a club is that you
are on the same line as the chairman. This is very important because then
you as a collective group are more powerful, you have to be on the same
line?

Has the balance gone too far to the players?

You know better than me but yes the power is too much on the power of the
players and agents and it is hard for the managers but sometimes you are on
the other end of it. I never advise a player to stop training to force a
move that is low and it shouldn't be like that.

One positive was Declan Rice from the Manchester United game?

It is nice to have those situations, we never try to force it. He is a boy,
who is very mature for his age, who is very good for his age and is very
mature. He has got the quality and he impressed everybody-the West Ham
family. In preseason he played every game and he wasn't in the plans in the
beginning but he forced them. It's too early for the kid but he is
improving and he is doing really well. Definitely the reason, yes we had
injuries, but he came on against Man United because I was confident he could
do it instantly. He came on against Burnley, last five minutes, it was an
important game and it was 2-1 to us and we put him in because he was the
best option. I don't want to praise him too much, despite his family are
down to earth-he will stay focused.

Last season West Ham moved into a new stadium on the football side, Spurs
move into a new one this weekend what advice would you give them?

We found it different and it was only us. It happened to a few clubs who
have moved stadiums. There is no magic formula, last year Spurs found it
hard at Wembley. It wasn't always against top clubs. I am not too bothered
to be fair. They will need time to adjust.

Can I ask you about Joe Hart what impact has he had on the dressing room?

He has had a big impact, he is England's number 1 and he is very vocal on
the pitch and on the training ground. He organises the defence and he
shouts and we are very happy with him so far. We have two really good
goalkeepers.

Andy Carroll is back in training, is there anything he is doing different to
avoid the constant injuries?

We are trying as a club and him personally. It would be wrong to think of
the World Cup. Hopefully in 10 games we can build on that but unfortunately
with a long lay out you can't plan that long term. Our aim is to find a
solution that will make him long term fit. For that you need him to start
playing games. We don't want to rush him into a game against Southampton,
even though he could have a big impact from the sub bench. We don't want to
risk getting new injuries and we have to give him a short preseason before
he enters the pitch. Only that way could he try and stay fit and then he
can think about England.

If Courtinho does leave for Barcelona are you worried that Liverpool will
come for Lanzini?

Max emails me these stories straight away to shock me a bit. We spoke about
this before Manchester United, I speak to Manu every day, he is happy. He
feels at home, he feels liked. You can see it, you don't have to talk to
him, and you can see by how he is smiling and is happy. He broke into the
Argentina national team. So he knows if he plays for West Ham he has a
chance of getting a better contract with West Ham and playing for Argentina.

Is there a price tag? £100m?

No I am sure he is going to stay with us. He knows he is wanted, the
chairman and the board, he was on loan, and we took an option before we had
to. He was voted the players player of the year, makes you feel wanted. He
likes it here.

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West Ham boss Slaven Bilic sympathises with Southampton over Virgil van Dijk
By James Dale
Last Updated: 17/08/17 11:15pm
SSN

Slaven Bilic has sympathy for Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino over
want-away defender Virgil van Dijk. West Ham face Saints at St Mary's this
weekend with Pellegrino unable to call upon centre-back Van Dijk - who has
submitted a transfer request. Southampton maintain Van Dijk will not be
sold, but the ongoing transfer saga is all too familiar for Bilic after he
saw Dimitri Payet eventually get his way and leave for Marseille following a
drawn out impasse with West Ham. "I know that the power is too much on the
side of the players and their agents," said Bilic. "The power is massive.
And you can't say that we have to fight it. We have to live with it and we
have to try to find the best possible solution for the club. "That is the
best possible situation for the manager as well. "That's why I say the
football game is very simple but the manager's job is very complicated.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, on the pitch and off the pitch. "Of
course I have a lot of sympathy. It's hard for them, and sometimes you are
on the other side of the story. "Sometimes you are in the position that you
are getting the player, but it definitely doesn't help. It doesn't help the
managers."

West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady revealed on Sky Sports' The Debate
earlier this week that 17 Premier League clubs are in favour of shutting the
transfer window before the season starts. Bilic - who insists Manuel
Lanzini will be staying at the club this summer - backed the sentiments from
his board, but believes the change must take place beyond the English top
flight. "Yes. It is mutual from me and the club," said Bilic. "I would like
that to happen, it would help everybody. "For me it is has to be across the
leagues. Otherwise there is no point. Ironically it would put the clubs in a
worse situation that you would still lose players if clubs abroad want them
and you can't replace them. It would only protect us in that no other
Premier League clubs can take your players. "The [Philippe] Coutinho
situation, it would not stop Liverpool losing him, but would stop them
finding a replacement. It's a great idea, first one I'm definitely like
'yes'.
"Some teams are losing like 30 per cent of their teams."

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The West Ham Way is now the Southampton Way, and the Hammers have to make it
work
JOHN DILLON
ES Sport

The West Ham Way? Remember that? It's changed so much. But one laughable
aspect of the way the Hammers do things remains steadfastly in place.
That's their weak-minded capability to roll over and capitulate against the
big teams (and some smaller ones) in a feeble style un-matched with such
regularity anywhere else in the Premier League. Already, the 4-0 humiliation
they suffered at Manchester United last Sunday has made this weekend's trip
to Southampton more fraught than it needs to have been. There will be added
scrutiny of the result and performance on the South Coast because of the way
in which Slaven Bilic's side surrendered at Old Trafford.
For that immediate reason, it is welcome news that the robust pair of
Michail Antonio and Cheikhou Kouyate may be available for the game after
recovering from injury. The team needs to toughen up. Quickly. In fact, it
makes this a good time to set aside all those fallacies about the Hammers'
unquenchable penchant for elegant, lovely football and about their
much-marketed Academy, too. It all happened decades ago. Those ideas are
actually practised with more conviction these days by Saturday's opponents,
who have a well-defined philosophy which produces young players and attempts
to create a technical style of play whoever is manager. Funnily enough,
they call it The Southampton Way. And it put them in eighth place in the
final table last season.

West Ham, meanwhile, have chosen a different path in their awkward new home
at the London Stadium. For example, it's been made clear by the board that
there will be little room for young players to break into the side regularly
in future. The demands of the modern Premier League mean they have to buy in
ready-made seasoning and experience, they say – with much justification, in
fact, given that West Ham see themselves as a bigger club than the Saints.
It certainly made good sense when Bilic signed the physically powerful pair
of Marko Arnautovic and Pablo Zabaleta during the summer It was recognition
that the team was seriously lacking strength as well as pace last season.
The pursuit of Sporting Lisbon's defensive midfielder William Carvalho -
once described as a new Patrick Vieira - underlines this idea, even if it
should temper the excitement which greeted the appearance of 18-year-old
Declan Rice amid the carnage in midfield in Manchester last Sunday. "The
West Ham Way? Funnily enough, they call it The Southampton Way. And it put
them in eighth place in the final table last season."
But having chosen this path – and added to the disgruntlement of many
supporters who despair at the changes in the nature of the club - they now
have to make it work. That's the trade-off required for the abandonment of
much-cherished Upton Park. So far, there is little sign of it.

To get things straight, the so-called West Ham Way was represented by the
tough, physical and honest attitudes of Billy Bonds as much as it was by the
deft magic of Sir Trevor Brooking and Alan Devonshire. It is Bonzo who is
the all-time greatest hero of the fans – even more so than Bobby Moore –
which is why the club, with all its PR troubles, should heed the campaign to
get a stand named after him in Stratford. True enough, all of those players
had more bad times than good. That's the West Ham way, too. They were often
seen as a soft touch. Especially Up North. So even now, it will be welcome
progress if Bilic makes his side more combative and muscular. Yet last
Sunday's performance at Old Trafford contained too many echoes of the
thrashings suffered against Manchester City (twice), Arsenal and Liverpool
last season . It means that many fans already fear nothing has changed on
the pitch, even if so much has been altered off it.
True enough, Jose Mourinho's side were bursting with power and purpose
following the arrival of Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic. It just made West
Ham's collapse all the more inevitable in what is supposed to be the world's
most competitive league. The Hammers' long injury list was irrelevant, too.
This is a squad game nowadays. Southampton are not from the newly-minted Big
Seven. And West Ham won 3-1 there last February. But they are a club with a
detailed sense of structure, mission, identity and talent production similar
to the ideas cherished by supporters in east London. West Ham won't play at
home for more than three weeks - until September 11 - in the aftermath of
the world athletics championship. Even that is somehow typical of the club's
haphazard ways. So they urgently need to change the mood around them at
Southampton. Or the West Ham Way so embarrassingly on display last weekend
could become a bad habit this season.

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Portuguese media deliver major update on West Ham's bid to sign William
Carvalho from Sporting
The Hammers are desperate to land their man
Football London
BYALASDAIR GOLD
05:30, 18 AUG 2017

West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic has made Sporting Lisbon star William
Carvalho his number one target this summer but talks appear to be on hiatus,
according to the Portuguese media. The reports claim that the midfielder is
also struggling with injury currently, having missed Sporting's last match
with a shoulder injury and has now picked up a new knock that could keep him
out for longer. Portuguese media outlet Record also claim that the Hammers
will come back with a £36.4m bid, including add ons for the player, with the
Lisbon outfit holding a sell on fee as well. The report states that West Ham
must sell players before being able to afford to make such a move and for
that reason the move is currently on hold, although Record also write that
Carvalho is the only midfielder Bilic wants to sign this summer.

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Dramas involving Diego Costa and Philippe Coutinho show player power is a
problem in the Premier League, claims West Ham boss Slaven Bilic
Diego Costa is currently exiled following a fall-out with Chelsea's Antonio
Conte
Barcelona target Philippe Coutinho has handed in a transfer request at
Liverpool
Slaven Bilic said: 'I never advise or ask the players to stop training.
That's low'
By Kieran Gill for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 01:35, 18 August 2017 | UPDATED: 01:36, 18 August 2017

Player power has become a problem in the Premier League amid the sagas
surrounding Chelsea's Diego Costa and Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho,
according to Slaven Bilic. West Ham boss Bilic expressed sympathy for Jurgen
Klopp and Antonio Conte on Thursday, having experienced a similar situation
with wantaway Dimitri Payet last season. The France winger went on strike to
force a move to Marseille for £25million and Bilic will hope there are no
tantrums from Manuel Lanzini as the Argentinian attracts interest from
Liverpool.
Lanzini is due to return to first-team training on Monday before hopefully
being included in the squad for Newcastle United following his knee injury.
As reported by Sportsmail last week, the club still want to tie the
£35,000-a-week winger down to a new and improved deal. Speaking on Thursday
about the likes of Costa and Coutinho, Bilic said: 'The power is too much on
the side of the players and their agents. 'It's hard for the managers. Make
no mistake, we are sometimes on this side and sometimes the other side. But
I never, ever advise or ask the players to stop training. That's low. That
is low. It should not be like that. 'The most important thing is that you
are on the same line as your board, then you are strong. 'It's a club
problem but at the end of the day, it's the manager's problem. It' s
happening now with Coutinho, with (Antonio) Conte and Costa or whoever. It's
a problem for the manager. 'Is it hard? It is very hard. Is it becoming
every year harder? But that's why I say the football game is very simple but
the manager's job is very complicated. And that's it. 'I know that I got a
lot of praise for the (Payet) situation but I spoke to my staff, my family,
"Why are they praising me for that because it was very logical thing to do?"
I couldn't do any different.'

Bilic is waiting for the thumbs up from co-chairman David Sullivan that he
has Sporting Lisbon's £36m-rated midfielder William Carvalho, though talks
have stalled with other clubs now involved. 'It is very busy,' Bilic
conceded. 'It is becoming more busy in other clubs. I have left it to the
board, to the chairman, to the people involved in those ins and outs. 'I am
concentrating only and totally on our game against Southampton. We are going
to see what has happened there with ins and outs.' Meanwhile, Bilic
confirmed on Thursday that Michail Antonio will be fit to face Southampton
on Saturday, while Andy Carroll is back in first-team training.

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Slaven Bilic confirms Michail Antonio return for West Ham United
HITC
Shane Callaghan

West Ham United will have Michail Antonio available this weekend, following
a four-month absence. Slaven Bilic has revealed that West Ham United will
have the option of using fit-again Michail Antonio this weekend. The Hammers
have another tricky away day on the horizon as Bilic's side visit
Southampton on Saturday, six days after being thrashed 4-0 at Manchester
United. But this time West Ham will have the 27-year-old available, with
Antonio missing the last six weeks of last season through injury. The former
Nottingham Forest man was the Irons' top goalscorer in the Premier League
last term, and Bilic is delighted to announce via The Mail that the pacey
winger is set to return. He said: "Antonio is back, he's fit, he played last
week for the Under-23s. It was part of the plan and he looked really good.
He looks ready. "For this game, we're going to have 100 per cent Michail
Antonio back."
The East Londoners would've been lost without the ex-Brighton winger last
season and his return should not only boost performances, but morale within
the squad. Only two players - Dimitri Payet and Andy Carroll - scored more
than his seven goals during the 2015-16 campaign. He has 16 Premier League
goals his last 52 games.

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MATCH PREVIEW: SOUTHAMPTON V WEST HAM
By Dan Coker 18 Aug 2017 at 08:00 8 comments
WTID
Blast from the past

1st April 1907 – Edward VII was on the throne, Henry Campbell-Bannerman was
the Liberal Prime Minister and the first taxicabs with taximeters had just
begun operating in London. West Ham United, meanwhile, were defeating
Southampton 3-2 in front of 8,000 at The Dell.

The Hammers recorded victory on the South Coast with goals from 23-year-old
centre-forward Harry Stapley, 22-year-old half-back Len Jarvis and
25-year-old inside-forward Lionel Watson. Trialist John Patten and
22-year-old Frank Jefferis replied for the Saints but it was the Hammers who
took maximum points back to London. This was one of two goals Patten scored
for Saints from four matches but it still wasn't enough to win him a
permanent contract. Jefferis would go on to win two England caps and the
1915 league title with Everton.


Stapley (pictured right) was born in Tunbridge Wells on 29th April 1883 and
was considered something of a coup when, as an amateur player, he accepted
an invitation to play for the Hammers in late 1904. A schoolmaster by trade,
he had resisted the lure of professional football throughout a distinguished
football career with Manor Park Albion, Bromley, Norwich CEYMS, Reading and
Woodford Town. Slightly-built for a centre-forward, he topped West Ham's
scoring charts for three consecutive campaigns and, after then moving up in
the world to join Second Division Glossop, he was the Derbyshire club's top
scorer for seven successive seasons. His duties as a teacher prevented him
from travelling to midweek matches but he became the private tutor and
cricket and football coach to the Hill-Wood children (the family long
associated with Arsenal); Stapley served as private secretary to Sir Samuel
Hill-Wood when he became MP for High Peak. Harry Stapley died in Glossop on
his 56th birthday in 1939.

West Ham United would finish the 1906/07 Southern League First Division
season in fifth position, while Southampton would end up 11th in a campaign
which saw Fulham top the division, Newcastle win the Football League title
and The Wednesday win the FA Cup. Stapley would finish as the Hammers' top
scorer with 22 goals in 37 matches.

Southampton: George Clawley, John Robertson, John Eastham, Horace Glover,
Joseph Harris, James Bowden, Sam Jepp, Fred Mouncher, Frank Jefferis, John
Patten, Wally Radford.

West Ham United: George Kitchen, Bill Wildman, Bill Taylor, Tommy Allison,
Len Jarvis, Frank Piercy, Dave Lindsay, Billy Grassam, Harry Stapley, Lionel
Watson, Fred Blackburn.

Club Connections

Jose Fonte and Michail Antonio travel to the home of their former club. An
array of West Ham United's good, bad and ugly have also turned out for
Southampton:

Goalkeepers: Richard Wright, George Kitchen.

Defenders: Richard Hall, Christian Dailly, Joe Kirkup, Wayne Bridge, Neil
Ruddock, Bill Adams, Ian Pearce, Darren Powell, Albie Roles, Horace Glover,
Calum Davenport.

Midfielders: Bobby Weale, Luis Boa Morte, Nigel Quashie, Eyal Berkovic,
Robbie Slater, Paul Allen.

Strikers: Vic Watson, Justin Fashanu, David Speedie, David Connolly, Ted
MacDougall, Henri Camara, Alex McDonald, Frank Costello, Fred Harrison,
Walter Pollard, Arthur Wilson, Jimmy Harris, Jack Foster.

In addition, George Kay played for the Hammers and managed the Saints while
Harry Redknapp and Alan Pardew have managed both clubs.

Today's focus is on a striker who had a period with Southampton in between
two spells with West Ham. Iain Dowie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire on
9th January 1965. He was rejected by Southampton aged 16 and later went to
the University of Hertfordshire to study for an engineer's degree. On
completion he became an employee of British Aerospace, whilst playing
football at non-League level for Cheshunt alongside his brother Bob. He left
Cheshunt to improve his fitness and signed for St Albans City, then moved on
to Hendon. While playing for Hendon, Dowie was spotted by Luton who signed
him in the 1988/89 season, when they were in the First Division. An
old-fashioned centre-forward, he had a brief loan spell at Fulham before
establishing himself as a first-team player at Kenilworth Road in the
1989/90 season, when his eight goals in 29 league games helped Luton finish
seventh.

On 22nd March 1991, with Luton still in the First Division and Dowie still a
first team regular with seven goals from 29 games that season, he agreed to
drop a division to join Billy Bonds' promotion-chasing West Ham United for a
fee of £480,000. He proved himself to be a competent deputy for the injured
Trevor Morley as his four goals in the final 12 league games of the season
helped secure the team's promotion as Second Division runners-up. The
26-year-old Dowie made his Hammers debut in a 0-0 draw at Hull the day after
signing and scored his first goal on his home debut, a 3-2 win over Barnsley
at the Boleyn Ground on 1st April 1991. He scored in his next two home games
as well, a 2-0 win over Swindon on 20th April and a 1-1 draw with Newcastle
four days later, before making it three goals in a week in a 3-1 defeat at
Blackburn on 27th April. When the 1991/92 First Division season began
however, Morley had returned to fitness and Dowie found himself on the
sidelines until his £500,000 move to Southampton on 3rd September 1991 after
less than six months at Upton Park.

Dowie played alongside Alan Shearer and Matthew Le Tissier – two of the
country's highest regarded players in the early 1990s – and scored nine
goals in 30 league games to ensure that Ian Branfoot's Saints finished high
enough for a place in the newly formed Premier League, while the Hammers
were relegated in bottom position from the old First Division to the new
First Division. His good form continued into the 1992/93 season, despite the
sale of Shearer to Blackburn, as he scored 11 league goals. His tally
dropped to five goals in 39 games during the 1993/94 campaign, though
Southampton avoided relegation again, and he managed another five goals from
17 league games in the 1994/95 season before manager Alan Ball decided that
he wanted younger partners for Le Tissier in attack, signing Gordon Watson
and Neil Shipperley while dropping Craig Maskell and selling Dowie to
Crystal Palace for £400,000 in January 1995. Dowie had scored 30 goals for
Southampton from 122 matches in just over three years at The Dell.

Dowie could not save the Eagles from relegation from the Premier League and
returned to Upton Park in September 1995 in a deal which saw the late Jeroen
Boere move to Selhurst Park. The 30-year-old Dowie made his second Hammers
debut under Harry Redknapp in a 3-1 home defeat to Chelsea on 11th September
1995 and scored his first goal back at the Boleyn in a 1-1 draw with
champions Blackburn on 21st October. He scored the only goal of the game at
Sheffield Wednesday the following weekend before grabbing a late winner
against former club Southampton on 16th December. He bagged the Hammers'
first goal of 1996 in a 2-1 New Year's Day defeat at Manchester City and
notched an 85th-minute winner in a 3-2 home win over Coventry on 31st
January 1996, a match which saw the debut of Frank Lampard Junior.

Dowie scored the equaliser in a 1-1 home FA Cup fourth round draw with
Grimsby on 7th February 1996 but the Hammers would lose the replay 3-0 the
following week. He tapped in the opener in a 2-0 home win over Middlesbrough
on 9th March and made it three goals in as many games by bagging a brace in
a 4-2 home triumph over Manchester City. Dowie ended the 1995/96 campaign
with nine goals from 39 appearances in all competitions and was voted
runner-up to Julian Dicks in the Hammer of the Year voting as West Ham
finished in the top flight's top ten for the first time since the famous
1985/86 season.

1996/97 was to prove less fruitful, with Dowie's only goals coming in a Hugo
Porfirio-inspired 4-1 victory over Nottingham Forest in the third round of
the League Cup, a match in which Dowie notched a double on 23rd October
1996. Redknapp had broken up Dowie's previously successful partnership with
Tony Cottee (who had moved to Selangor of Malaysia) but his experiment with
foreign imports was not paying dividends – neither Florin Raducioiu nor
Paulo Futre, both summer signings, would be in east London by the end of the
winter. Dowie ploughed a fruitless furrow up front in the bleak winter of
1996/97 and had to bear the frustrations of supporters who also had to
contend with loan flop Mike Newell when Dowie was injured in January before
the signings of John Hartson and Paul Kitson breathed new goalscoring life
into the claret and blue strikeforce. Dowie's nightmare own goal at lowly
Stockport also dumped the drenched Hammers out of the League Cup in a fourth
round replay.

Dowie remained in east London until January 1998, fourteen months and 32
matches after his last goals for the club. He departed, alongside left-back
and fellow Northern Ireland international Keith Rowland, in the deal which
brought Trevor Sinclair to the Boleyn Ground from QPR. Dowie, who left at
the age of 33, had scored 15 goals in 95 appearances in all competitions
across both his spells with West Ham United. Twelve of these goals can be
seen in my video below.

Dowie spent three years at QPR, ending his career playing in defence and as
player-manager of the reserves. He was also caretaker manager of the club
for two games in the autumn of 1998. He retired having also won 59 caps for
Northern Ireland, for whom he qualified to play through his father, scoring
12 goals. He became manager of Oldham in 2002, knocking Glenn Roeder's West
Ham out of the League Cup at Upton Park, before moving to former club
Crystal Palace in December 2003, taking the Eagles from 19th place in
Division One to the Play-Off Final, where Dowie again engineered a victory
over the Hammers. He took over at Charlton in the summer of 2006 but left
before Christmas and became manager at Coventry in February 2007 only to
leave a year later. He returned to QPR in the summer of 2008 but was sacked
after just 15 games. Alan Shearer named Dowie on his coaching staff at
Newcastle when he took over for the final stages of the 2008/09 campaign.

Dowie was named as the temporary 'Football Management Consultant' of Premier
League Hull City on 17th March 2010 but the Tigers would be relegated with
one game left to play. Now 52, Dowie works as a commentator for Sky Sports
News. His niece, 29-year-old England international striker Natasha Dowie,
plays for Boston Breakers in the American National Women's Soccer League.

Referee

Saturday's referee will be Lee Mason from Greater Manchester. Mason refereed
the Hammers once in 2016/17 – the 1-0 home win over Hull when he awarded the
Hammers a match-winning penalty – but took charge of two West Ham matches
the previous season, those being the 0-0 draw at Swansea in December 2015
and the 3-0 win at West Brom in April 2016.

Mason refereed three Premier League matches involving the Hammers in 2014/15
– the 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa, the 1-0 home win over Sunderland and the
2-1 defeat at Old Trafford when he sent off Wayne Rooney, denied the Hammers
a penalty when Morgan Amalfitano's cross struck Radamel Falcao's arm and
disallowed Kevin Nolan's last-minute strike for a marginal offside. Mason
was also the man in the middle for our 1-0 FA Cup win at Bristol City in
January 2015. He also officiated in four of our games in 2013/14, sending
off two of our players (Mark Noble against Everton and James Tomkins at
Cardiff) and disallowing a perfectly good Stewart Downing equaliser at
Crystal Palace.

Possible line-ups

Southampton and England left-back Ryan Bertrand has been passed fit but
Virgil van Dijk remains unavailable.

West Ham United could welcome back Michail Antonio from injury, while Aaron
Cresswell could claim a starting berth. Cheikhou Kouyate, Manuel Lanzini and
Andy Carroll could return at Newcastle next weekend.

Possible Southampton XI: Forster; Soares, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand;
Romeu, Ward-Prowse; Redmond, Davis, Tadic; Gabbiadini.

Possible West Ham United XI: Hart; Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell;
Obiang, Noble; Antonio, Ayew, Arnautovic; Chicharito.

Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!

Follow @dan_coker on twitter.

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