Daily WHUFC News - 26th December 2013

Arsenal match preview
WHUFC.com
All of the need-to-know information ahead of Boxing Day's clash against
Arsenal at the Boleyn Ground
24.12.2013

WEST HAM UNITED V ARSENAL
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
THURSDAY 26 DECEMBER 2013
KICK-OFF: 3PM
REFEREE: PHIL DOWD
FULL AUDIO AND TEXT COMMENTARY - WEST HAM TV

iPHONE APP I TWITTER I FACEBOOK I PODCAST

Introduction
• West Ham United welcome Arsenal to the Boleyn Ground on Boxing Day hoping
to extend their unbeaten home run to three games.
• A 0-0 draw against Sunderland back on 14 December was preceded by a 3-0
victory over Fulham on 30 November in the Club's last two home fixtures.
• Last time out, Sam Allardyce's side succumbed to a 3-1 defeat at the hands
of Manchester United at Old Trafford, one of three consecutive away league
defeats.
• That defeat left the Hammers 17th in the table, one point above the
relegation zone although a win over the Gunners could move the home side up
two places.
• Arsenal arrive in east London having lost three of their last four away
matches in all competitions.
• A 6-3 defeat to Manchester City in their last away Premier League outing
followed a 2-0 defeat to Napoli in the Champions League and a 1-0 defeat to
Manchester United back on 10 November.
• Last time out the Gunners drew 0-0 with fellow title contenders Chelsea, a
result which left them second in the league, level on points with
table-toppers Liverpool.

Team news
West Ham United
• Winston Reid (ankle), Stewart Downing (ankle), Andy Carroll (foot),
Ricardo Vaz Te, Stephen Henderson (both shoulder) and Mladen Petric (calf)
will all miss the match through injury.
• Kevin Nolan could be in line for a return after serving a three-match ban
after being sent-off against Liverpool back on 7 December.

Arsenal
• Laurent Koscielny is doubtful for the game with the defender still nursing
a cut to his knee.
• Midfielder Jack Wilshere serves the second of his two-game ban against the
Hammers while Lukas Podolski may return after recovering from a hamstring
injury.

Background
• West Ham United have faced Arsenal 127 times in Premier League, Football
League and domestic knockout competitions. The Hammers have won 33, the
Gunners have won 56 and there have been 38 draws.
• West Ham United's biggest win over Arsenal came on 7 March 1927 when a Vic
Watson hat-trick helped secure a 7-0 Division One win for the Hammers at the
Boleyn Ground.
• West Ham United defeated Arsenal 8-2 in the first meeting between the two
clubs on Christmas Day 1915. Syd Puddefoot scored five times in the fixture,
which was played in the war-time London Combination principal tournament.
• Including war-time competitions, the Hammers have met the Gunners a
staggering 164 times, with West Ham United winning 48, Arsenal winning 73
and there being 43 draws.
• The third and most-recent time that West Ham United won the FA Cup was
against Arsenal, with the Hammers winning 1-0 at Wembley on 10 May 1980. The
1980 final is also the last time a team outside the top-flight has won the
competition.
• Five of West Ham United's first eight games against Arsenal were in the FA
Cup, with just three of the encounters coming in the league.
• West Ham United became the final visiting team to win at Arsenal's old
Highbury home when they chalked up a 3-2 Premier League success on 1
February 2006.
• The Hammers then became the first away side to win to win at Emirates
Stadium, recording a memorable 1-0 Premier League win on 7 April 2007.
• West Ham United midfielder Mohamed Diame and Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby
were team-mates at the famous Clairefontaine Academy near Paris as
youngsters.
• Twenty players have made their West Ham United debuts against Arsenal.
Harry Hodges was the first in a 4-1 Division One defeat at Highbury on 10
September 1923, with Wayne Bridge the most recent in a 3-0 home Barclays
Premier League defeat on 15 January 2011.
• Ron Cater, Almeric Hall and Ken Bainbridge all made their Hammers' bows in
a 6-0 FA Cup third-round victory over Arsenal at the Boleyn Ground on 5
January 1946. Hall scored twice and Bainbridge once.
• Ray Houghton made his one and only West Ham United appearance as a
substitute in a 2-0 Division One defeat at Arsenal on 1 May 1982.
• Steve Jones made his second West Ham United 'debut' in a 2-0 Premier
League defeat at Arsenal on 17 August 1996.
• The other players to have made their West Ham United debuts against
Arsenal include John Morton (March 1932), Phil Woosnam (November 1958), Pat
Holland (April 1969), Clyde Best (August 1969), Bobby Gould (November 1973),
Danny Williamson (April 1994), Les Sealey (September 1995), Bernard Lama
(March 1998), Gary Breen (August 2002), Dean Ashton (February 2006), Jack
Collison (January 2008), Fabio Daprela and Anthony Edgar (both January
2010).

Last time out
Manchester United 3-1 West Ham United
Barclays Premier League
21 December 2013
West Ham United: Adrian, Demel, Collins (Rat 75), Tomkins, McCartney, Taylor
(Collison 62), Morrison, Noble, Diame, Jarvis (C Cole 71), Maiga
Subs not used: Jaaskelainen, O'Brien, Diarra, J Cole
Goals: C.Cole 81

Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea
Barclays Premier League
23 December 2013
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Ramsey, Arteta,
Rosicky, Ozil, Walcott, Giroud
Subs not used: Podolski, Monreal, Cazorla, Fabianski, Flamini, Bendtner,
Jenkinson

Previous meeting
Jack Collison's early goal wasn't enough to prevent the Hammers from
slipping to a heavy defeat against Arsenal as the Gunners ran riot in the
second half at the Emirates. The midfielder's 18th minute strike was
cancelled out just four minutes later when Lukas Podolski fired home. A
disastrous ten-minute spell at the start of the second half then downed the
Hammers as Olivier Giroud, Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott and Giroud again
scored to ensure an emphatic home win for the Gunners.
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Tomkins, Reid (Potts 62), O'Brien,
Noble, Nolan, Collison (Diarra 62), Taylor, C Cole, Vaz Te (Diame 70)
Subs not used: Henderson, J Cole, Jarvis, O'Neil
Goal: Collison 18
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen (Koscielny 57), Gibbs,
Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Walcott, Giroud (Oxlade-Chamberlain 73), Podolski
(Andre Santos 70)
Subs not used: Mannone, Arshavin, Jenkinson, Frimpong
Goals: Podolski 22, Giroud 47, 57, Cazorla 53, Walcott 54

Last six meetings (Premier League unless stated)
23 January 2013 Arsenal 5-1 West Ham United
6 October 2012 West Ham United 1-3 Arsenal
15 January 2011 West Ham United 0-3 Arsenal
30 October 2010 Arsenal 1-0 West Ham United
20 March 2010 Arsenal 2-0 West Ham United
3 January 2010 West Ham United 1-2 Arsenal (FA Cup third round)
Overall record v Arsenal (all competitions) W 33 D 38 L 56

Ten-year record
West Ham United
2012/13 Premier League 10th (46 points)
2011/12 Championship 3rd (86 points - promoted to Premier League via
Play-Offs)
2010/11 Premier League 20th (33 points - relegated to Championship)
2009/10 Premier League 17th (35 points)
2008/09 Premier League 9th (51 points)
2007/08 Premier League 10th (49 points)
2006/07 Premier League 15th (41 points)
2005/06 Premier League 9th (55 points)
2004/05 Championship 6th (73 points - promoted to Premier League via
Play-Offs)
2003/04 Division One 4th (74 points)

Arsenal
2012/13 Premier League 4th (73 points)
2011/12 Premier League 3rd (70 points)
2010/11 Premier League 4th (68 points)
2009/10 Premier League 3rd (75 points)
2008/09 Premier League 4th (72 points)
2007/08 Premier League 3rd (83 points)
2006/07 Premier League 4th (68 points)
2005/06 Premier League 4th (67 points)
2004/05 Premier League 2nd (83 points)
2003/04 Premier League 1st (90 points)

Old boys
• Guy Demel spent a season with Arsenal as a youngster, joining the Gunners
as a 19-year-old in 2000. However, the right-back did not make a first-team
appearance for Arsenal and joined German club Borussia Dortmund the
following summer.
• Among the players who have represented both clubs are Jeremie Aliadiere,
Yossi Benayoun, James Bigden, Jimmy Bloomfield, Luis Boa Morte, Liam Brady,
George Burgess, Dick Curtis, Kaba Diawara, Ted Drake, Stan Earle, Bert
Fletcher, Ron Greenwood, Eddie Hapgood, John Hartson, Les Henley, Fergie
Hunt, James Jackson, Bernard Joy, Fred Kemp, Henri Lansbury, Tom Lee, Harry
Lewis, William Linwood, Freddie Ljungberg, Roddy MacEachrane, Jimmy
Marshall, David Noble, John Radford, Stewart Robson, Charles Satterthwaite,
Laurie Scott, Rami Shaaban, Bill Sidley, Bob Stevenson, Davor Suker, Matthew
Upson, Charlie Walker, Nigel Winterburn, Ian Wright, Richard Wright, Bobby
Gould, Seve Walford, Lee Chapman, Manuel Almunia and Clive Allen.
Referee
• The referee for Thursday's game will be Phil Dowd.
• Dowd has already taken charge of the Hammers twice this season, presiding
over 0-0 draws against Newcastle United and Swansea City.
• Dowd is in his 13th season as a Select Group official, having initially
been promoted to the Barclays Premier League list of referees in 2001.
• Dowd began refereeing in local leagues in 1984, officiating in the
Staffordshire Senior League and Midland Football Alliance. He was appointed
to the Football League list of assistant referees in 1992, before joining
the League's full list of referees in 1997, aged 34.
• The 50-year-old is commonly considered to be one of England's best match
officials, an opinion backed by his appointments as the referee for the 2012
FA Cup and 2010 Football League Cup finals.
• Previously, Dowd was the fourth official at the 2006 FA Cup final between
West Ham United and Liverpool at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
General information
• Click here for tickets.
• The London Underground will be running District and Hammersmith & City
Line services through Upton Park on Boxing Day. Click here for full TfL
travel information.
• However, there will be no service on the c2c or Greater Anglia networks.
• The weather forecast for Thursday is overcast with sunny spells and a
temperature around of 6C.

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Collins looks for Arsenal response
WHUFC.com
West Ham United defender James Collins is up for a London derby contest with
Arsenal
26.12.2013

James Collins was full of praise for West Ham United keeper Adrian after the
No13 was thrown in at the deep end for his Premier League debut at Old
Trafford.
Former Real Betis stopper Adrian has impressed in the Hammers' run to the
Capital One Cup semi-finals and was rewarded with a place between the posts
against Manchester United. West Ham were defeated 3-1, but Collins was
impressed with the Spaniard and believes both he and Jussi Jaaskelainen can
push each other on over the second half of the season. Collins said: "Adrian
did well at Manchester United. He did great at Tottenham in the previous
game and we could have helped him out a bit more at Old Trafford, the
defending wasn't great for the first two goals especially. "We let him down
a little bit, but you can see in training that he's going to be a great
keeper. "It's great that we have him and Jussi pushing each other. Jussi
will probably feel a bit unlucky not to have played last week having kept
eight clean sheets, but we have two great keepers and competition in every
position is good."

The Hammers will be looking to bounce back in their Boxing Day derby with
Arsenal, and Collins is looking forward to the challenge. He continued: "We
knew it would be tough at United, but we are disappointed because we played
well at Tottenham in the previous game, and then didn't follow it up. "We
have two home games now and there is the sense here that we can push on and
get the results we need. Tottenham showed us that, playing so well there can
give us a lot of confidence. "Old Trafford wasn't great but we know we can
beat anyone on our day at home, we need to go into the Arsenal game thinking
we can get a point, or hopefully all three. "I've been impressed with them.
They have a strong squad and spent a lot of money on Ozil in the summer.
With Aaron Ramsey doing so well and coming to the front by scoring goals
they've had a good first half of the season. "You want to play against the
best players in the world and Arsenal certainly have some of them. It will
be a challenge but we have got eight clean sheets this season and another
one on Thursday would be nice. "We build our game on clean sheets. We've had
two in a row at home, so we'll start from there again and if we can keep a
clean sheet we'll only need one goal to win the game."

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On this day - 26 December
WHUFC.com
Craig Bellamy nets twice as the Hammers crush Portsmouth on Boxing day five
years ago
26.12.2013

Classic match
Portsmouth 1-4 West Ham United
Premier League
26 December 2008
Craig Bellamy was the catalyst for West Ham's four-goal thumping of
Portsmouth as the Hammers recorded their first Premier League win over the
South coast side. The striker scored the third and fourth goals after
Carlton Cole and Jack Collison put the visitors ahead after they had fallen
behind early on. Pompey's Nadir Belhadj got the scoring underway in just the
eighth minute before a Bellamy-inspired West Ham launched their superb
comeback.

Complete record - 26 December
1919 Bristol City 0-0 West Ham United (Division Two)
1921 Bury 0-1 West Ham United (Division Two)
1922 West Ham United 0-2 Manchester United (Division Two)
1923 West Ham United 1-0 Aston Villa (Division One)
1924 Cardiff City 2-1 West Ham United (Division One)
1925 Aston Villa 2-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1927 Sheffield United 6-2 West Ham United (Division One)
1928 Newcastle United 1-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1929 Huddersfield Town 3-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1930 Portsmouth 2-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1931 West Ham United 3-1 Grimsby Town (Division One)
1932 Fulham 4-2 West Ham United (Division Two)
1933 Swansea Town 1-1 West Ham United (Division Two)
1934 West Ham United 3-0 Bury (Division Two)
1935 Southampton 2-4 West Ham United (Division Two)
1936 Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 West Ham United (Division Two)
1946 Luton Town 2-1 West Ham United (Division Two)
1947 Sheffield Wednesday 5-3 West Ham United (Division Two)
1949 West Ham United 3-0 Swansea Town (Division Two)
1950 Leeds United 2-0 West Ham United (Division Two)
1951 Luton Town 6-1 West Ham United (Division Two)
1953 Luton Town 3-1 West Ham United (Division Two)
1955 Middlesbrough 2-0 West Ham United (Division Two)
1957 Ipswich Town 2-1 West Ham United (Division Two)
1958 Tottenham Hotspur 1-4 West Ham United (Division One)
1959 Birmingham City 2-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1960 West Ham United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur (Division One)
1961 West Ham United 2-8 Blackburn Rovers (Division One)
1963 West Ham United 1-2 Blackburn Rovers (Division One)
1964 Birmingham City 2-1 West Ham United (Division One)
1966 Blackpool 1-4 West Ham United (Division One)
1967 West Ham United 4-2 Leicester City (Division One)
1968 Southampton 2-2 West Ham United (Division One)
1969 West Bromwich Albion 3-1 West Ham United (Division One)
1972 West Ham United 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Division One)
1973 Chelsea 2-4 West Ham United (Division One)
1974 West Ham United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Division One)
1975 Aston Villa 4-1 West Ham United (Division One)
1977 West Ham United 1-0 Birmingham City (Division One)
1978 West Ham United 0-2 Orient (Division Two)
1980 Queens Park Rangers 3-0 West Ham United (Division Two)
1983 West Ham United 0-1 Southampton (Division One)
1984 Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 West Ham United (Division One)
1985 Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1986 Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1987 West Ham United 1-2 Wimbledon (Division One)
1989 Ipswich Town 1-0 West Ham United (Division Two)
1990 West Ham United 2-0 Oldham Athletic (Division Two)
1991 Aston Villa 3-1 West Ham United (Division One)
1992 Charlton Athletic 1-1 West Ham United (Division One)
1994 West Ham United 1-1 Ipswich Town (Premier League)
1997 West Ham United 1-0 Coventry City (Premier League)
1998 Arsenal 1-0 West Ham United (Premier League)
1999 Wimbledon 2-2 West Ham United (Premier League)
2000 West Ham United 5-0 Charlton Athletic (Premier League)
2001 West Ham United 4-0 Derby County (Premier League)
2002 West Ham United 1-1 Fulham (Premier League)
2003 West Ham United 1-2 Ipswich Town (Championship)
2004 West Ham United 3-2 Nottingham Forest (Championship)
2005 Portsmouth 1-1 West Ham United (Premier League)
2006 West Ham United 1-2 Portsmouth (Premier League)
2007 West Ham United 1-1 Reading (Premier League)
2008 Portsmouth 1-4 West Ham United (Premier League)
2009 West Ham United 2-0 Portsmouth (Premier League)
2010 Fulham 3-1 West Ham United (Premier League)
2011 Birmingham City 1-1 West Ham United (Championship)
Played 66, Won 18, Drawn 12, Lost 36, Scored 95, Conceded 123

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Asamoah Gyan: Sam Allardyce confirms West Ham striker enquiry
BBC.co.uk

Sam Allardyce says West Ham have made enquiries about signing ex-Sunderland
striker Asamoah Gyan in January. Allardyce's side are short of attacking
options due to Andy Carroll's long-term injury-enforced absence. "We'll be
linked with anybody that's a centre forward that might be coming back into
the country," he said. "If there's a player of any sort of quality we try
and find out what the situation might be - but it is nothing more than
that." Representatives of the Ghana forward are understood to have indicated
West Ham are keen on taking the Ghana international to Upton Park on loan
until the end of the season.
Gyan, 28, joined Sunderland in 2010 for £13m , but moved to United Arab
Emirates outfit Al-Ain in 2012.

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Kevin Nolan praised for cancelling West Ham's Dublin Christmas party
By Dev Trehan | Last Updated: 26/12/13 9:34am
SSN

Kevin Nolan has been praised by West Ham academy coach Anwar Uddin for his
decision to shelve the players' annual Christmas party due to the club's
poor league position. The squad were due to fly out to Dublin - the
destination for their Christmas party in 2012 - for their traditional
festive do following their Premier League match away at Liverpool a
fortnight ago. But club-captain Nolan, who was sent off in the 4-1 defeat at
Anfield, cancelled the trip and even reported back for extra training,
despite the fact he was suspended for three matches following the dismissal.
Nolan returns to the squad for their potentially tough encounter at home to
Arsenal on Boxing Day and Uddin insists Nolan's decision to cancel their
Christmas jaunt to Ireland was the right one. "He's the club captain and you
do whatever you see fit," Uddin told skysports.com. "I think it's a smart
thing to do because it's like anything, when you're in a precarious
situation and you're seen maybe having the time of your life in Dublin, it's
probably not the best message to go out to the fans. "I just think that says
a lot about him. It says a lot about the club that they know about that and
they understand that the fans do see them and have a perception of them in a
certain way
"I think that's only a positive thing that the fans can take from them
because it shows that look we're serious about this, yeah we know we're in a
bit of a precarious position but what are we going to do? "Let's get out of
it and we will do everything we can to get out of it and that includes
cancelling the Christmas party, but hopefully the schoolboy coaches don't
cancel their Christmas party because I'm looking forward to that!"

Uddin is best remembered as captain of the last West Ham team to win the FA
Youth Cup, a side which beat Coventry 9-0 over two legs in 1999 and featured
Michael Carrick and Joe Cole. He revealed that he took a similar decision to
Nolan later in his career when he was captain of Dagenham & Redbridge.
"There was a season when I was at Dagenham and Redbridge and we were one
point ahead of Oxford at Christmas," Uddin explained. "We had a weekend away
at Newquay planned and I just said to the players look, do you really think
it's important? "Why don't we save that money, put it in a pot, win the
league and at the end of the league, let's not go to Newquay, let's go a bit
further afield, maybe somewhere like Marbella or Paris. "And that's exactly
what we did."

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West Ham boss Sam Allardyce ready to copy Chelsea blue print to stop Arsenal
Dec 25, 2013 22:30 By Neil McLeman 1 Comments
The Mirror

Sam Allardyce will bid to copy the Chelsea ­blueprint for stopping Arsenal
at Upton Park today. But the West Ham boss reckons the Gunners are mounting
a title challenge because they have now toughened up at the back. The
Hammers have beaten Arsenal only once at home this century – and lost the
last six meetings home and away, conceding eight goals against them last
season. Big Sam was at the ­Emirates on Monday to see Jose Mourinho's side
stifle Mesut Ozil and co. And he reckons his relegation-threatened team can
trouble the Gunners the same way. "It was a very good plan for facing
Arsenal," he said. "A very fluent and exciting passing team really got
­nullified by Chelsea's good tactics. And a team that bought into the
tactics and worked extremely hard. "I am talking about the ones you perhaps
don't expect, like Willian and Eden Hazard. They all played their part to
try to achieve a result as a team. They had their opportunities to create
and produce the flair but didn't quite do it on the day. "Mourinho set
Arsenal a trap and they didn't cope well with it. I would hope we can start
quick and press Arsenal and get any mistakes out of them."

Allardyce admitted his side "got a bit scared of Manchester United" in the
defeat at Old Trafford and wants them to play without fear against Arsenal.
But the former Bolton and Blackburn boss reckoned Arsene Wenger's team can
no longer be bullied physically since the return of Mathieu Flamini. "They
have become a bit more resilient in their tackling and are not conceding
goals from set pieces or corners that they used to be frail on. "They have
already scored six headers from set-pieces and they have improved in those
two areas which has taken them towards the top of the Premier League.
"Perhaps Flamini has been the big difference and he has gone around geeing
up all the players which they have maybe lacked before. He not only leads by
example but he gets all the other players going as well. "You need to be
good both in and out of possession – otherwise you will not win the league."

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