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Ladies edged out
WHUFC.com

West Ham United Ladies were edged out of the FA Women's Premier League Plate at the third-round stage on Sunday. The Hammers lost 3-2 to Keynsham Town in a tie that could have gone either way at Thurrock FC's Ship Lane ground. Greg de Carnys' side led at half-time, but three second-half goals from the visitors rendered Shannon Albuery's late strike a consolation. After observing a minute silence for Remembrance Day before kick-off, West Ham started the brighter of the two teams, with Dayna Chong going close to opening the scoring on her 21st birthday, only for her shot to narrowly clear the crossbar. With Chloe Burr and Katie Bottom to the fore in the midfield, the Hammers continued to hold the upper hand, with Sasha Kelly firing across the face of goal midway through the opening half. At the other end, West Ham goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan was equal to everything Keynsham threw at her, most of which was created by Keynsham's former England international Justine Lorton-Radburn.

Three minutes before the break, the hosts went ahead. Forward Whitney Locke was the scorer, latching onto Kelly's through ball before rounding the goalkeeper and shooting into the empty net. The second 45 minutes followed a different pattern, though, as the Somerset-based visitors carried a much bigger threat throughout the second half. Hannah Davies was denied by Chauhan before Govan Cristina dos Santos Alves broke through to equalise five minutes after the break. Albuery went close to giving the home side the lead for a second time, but it was Keynsham who took control of the tie in the closing stages. When a free-kick beat Chauhan and hit the underside of the crossbar, Stacey Patterson was first to react, and she stabbed the ball into the net from close range. With ten minutes remaining, Yasmine Pratt converted Alves' cutback to put Keynsham two goals clear. To West Ham's credit, they fought to the end and went close through Bottom before Albuery broke into the penalty area and clipped the ball in for her first goal for the club. The home side continued to press, but the visitors managed to hold on until the final whistle and book their place in the quarter-finals.

The Ladies return to action at Ship Lane on Sunday 13 November at 2pm, when they host Cardiff City Ladies in the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division.

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Jones meets up with Slaven once again
WHUFC.com

Former striker Steve Jones will always have a special relationship with the West Ham fans following his remarkable story which saw him sign for his beloved Club.
Jones made headlines in the national press when Harry Redknapp took him to the east London Club after he was working in a soap factory while playing for Billericay.
The talented forward was rated one of the best strikers in non-league football and spent four memorable years at Upton Park. The 46-year-old has kept in touch with his former team-mate Slaven Bilic and was recently back at the Club's new training ground to meet up with some old friends....

For the amount of games that I played for West Ham I seemed to be remember quite well which is great. I was working in a soap factory and a lot was made in the press at the time. I was playing for Billericay and had gone on loan to Sheffield United. I got made redundant and West Ham came in for me straight away. Harry signed me for around £40,000. The crazy thing was I had played for Billericay on the Tuesday night and was then a substitute for West Ham at Upton Park four days later. It was hard to believe what was going on and it was a crazy time. I realised at the time that it was going to be hard because West Ham signed me when I was 22 and I had not had the coaching that a lot of the other players had gone through. It took me a couple of years to adjust to it but I was a West Ham supporter and it was a dream for me to go and play for for them. I was there for two seasons and then I came back for a second time. I was a better player the second time around but it just didn't happen for me in front of goal. I remember playing against Arsenal at Highbury on the opening day and we lost 2-0, but I managed to hit the post and the bar and if one of them had gone in, maybe it would have been a different story for me.

My favourite moment was probably playing against Norwich in a live televised game. We drew 3-3 and I managed to score and set up a goal for Trevor Morley. Norwich had a great team at the time with Chris Sutton and Jeremy Goss and it was a great game to be involved in. The other big highlight would have to be the 4-1 win over Spurs at White Hart Lane. I remember the ground being empty on 85 minutes and the Hammers fans were doing the conga! Trevor scored a couple, Mike Marsh and Matt Rush got on the scoresheet and it was a fantastic result at the time. I remember going out the night after and I don't recall having to buy a drink that night!

I still keep in touch with a few of the lads and did a charity event with Julian Dicks during the summer. I played with Slaven and he has gone on to become a fantastic manager. He has taken West Ham onto the next level. We have struggled a bit at the start of the season but that is down to the new Stadium and injuries.
But we showed with the recent unbeaten run what the team is capable of and to get that victory over Chelsea was excellent. There are still people around the Club from when I was playing including Shirley in the canteen and when I saw Slaven, he invited me to come down to the training ground with my little boy Liam who plays for the West Ham U11s. Slaven is a genuine guy and told me to bring him along and get some photos with the players. I hope Liam will be able to follow in my footsteps but he has still got a long way to go. He loves being at the Club, but when you are only 11 you still have a long way to go. He works hard and it is hard work for the youngsters. He recently played in Belgium and spent the day travelling there. There are a lot of demands for that age but he managed to get the winner!
Looking back I have some great memories from my career including playing for Charlton in the memorable play-off win over Sunderland at Wembley. I set up two of the goals and it was a great day.

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The Big Interview - Andre Ayew
WHUFC.com

Andre Ayew is determined to show West Ham United fans his best form when he returns to full match-fitness. The forward started his first Premier League game since the opening weekend in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Stoke City, having recently returned from nearly three months out with a groin injury. The 26-year-old is currently away captaining Ghana in their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Egypt and hopes to return to Rush Green in top shape ahead of the Hammers' top-flight trip to Tottenham Hotspur on 19 November.

First off, how are you feeling after Saturday's game?

"The fitness is coming back. I am not yet at my best, but it's only with games that I will get back to my best. It was a very important injury [that I suffered], but I am getting back and hopefully pretty soon I will be at 100 per cent. "I more or less know the team and how we want to play, so now it's about me getting 100 per cent fit and after that I can bring my quality to the squad. "I am very confident and we have great players in the team and great management so hopefully everything will be OK very soon."

What did you make of our performance against Stoke?

"We didn't have our best of games. We were a bit slow on the ball and we didn't put in the intensity that we wanted, but I think we scored the first goal and we should have at least held on to win, even if it wasn't pretty. "OK, we are disappointed not to get the points, but we need to look at the next game coming up, prepare and try to do something there."

That next game will be at White Hart Lane…

"It's a big game. It's a London derby and everybody is going to be ready. Some of us will be away working with our national teams, while the boys at Rush Green will get back some energy and release their minds and prepare themselves for that game. It is going to be an important game for us."

In the meantime, you are off to Alexandria for a big World Cup Group E qualifier with Egypt, having drawn 0-0 at home with Uganda in your first match. You will be Ghana's captain, which is a big honour?

"Yes, it's a very, very important game for us. We drew our first game at home and now we are going to Egypt, which is a very difficult one for us, so we need to prepare well. "I am not 100 per cent but I will try to give my best for my country and hopefully get a win and, at the same time, get more game-time."

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Joint-Chairman thrilled with Cresswell's call-up
WHUFC.com

I am thrilled with the news that Aaron Cresswell has been called into the England squad for the next two games against Scotland and Spain.

It is just rewards for the hard work that Aaron has put in on a consistent basis since we brought him to the Club back in 2014.

Aaron showed his quality straight away and became a fans favourite in just his first season at the Club when he won the Hammer of the Year award.

If people were questioning if he could carry that form into the second season in the top flight, they were quickly silenced as Aaron continued to show his best form and played a big part in the Club enjoying a successful final season at the Boleyn Ground.

Aaron's form did not go un-noticed and he was very unlucky to miss out on a place in the squad for the European Championship Finals during the summer.

Despite picking up a knee ligament injury during pre-season which forced him to miss the start of the campaign, Aaron worked hard to regain full fitness and has quickly settled into a new wing-back system which Slaven has employed in recent weeks.

There is obviously strong competition for the left back places in the squad with Danny Rose and Ryan Bertrand also included, but I have no doubts that Aaron has the quality to compete on the international stage and I hope he can now cement his place in the squad.

Aaron could not have asked for two bigger games to come into the England reckoning and it promises to be some atmosphere when they come up against Scotland at Wembley on Friday night.

It was obviously disappointing for Michail Antonio to miss out on a place this time around but if he continues to show his early season form, I have no doubts that he can quickly win back his place in the England squad.

We have been saying for some time that our players deserve the chance to break into the England squad and with the next World Cup in 2018, we would love to see our players performing on the biggest stage in world football.

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West Ham eye January loan for Chelsea outcast Cesc Fabregas - and Blues could subsidise his wages
22:30, 7 NOV 2016
BY DARREN LEWIS
The 29-year-old has been a starter in just one game since boss Antonio Conte's arrival and the club are listening to offers
The Mirror

West Ham are ready to make an audacious move to land Cesc Fabregas on loan from Chelsea. The 29-year-old has been a starter in just one game since boss Antonio Conte's arrival and the club are listening to offers. Chelsea are even ready to subsidise Fabregas's £160,000-a-week wages in order to move him out in January. That has sparked the interest of a number of clubs, including West Ham who are themselves braced for offers from Europe's top clubs for Dimitri Payet after the playmaker's claim that he could quit in January. Conte wants to clear the decks at Stamford Bridge to strengthen his squad in January and build on his stunning transformation of Chelsea. However Fabregas remains determined to see out his Stamford Bridge contract which runs until 2019 despite being frozen out by boss Antonio Conte. The Italian, whose side smashed Everton 5-0 at the weekend, has defied expectations to lift the Blues up to second in the table.
He will get backing from the Chelsea board to strengthen after missing out on a string of summer targets, including Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly and Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan. Conte is in the market for a new midfielder with Jon Obi Mikel also out of his plans. The Nigerian will not be receiving a new contract with his current deal set to run out at the end of the season. Defender Branislav Ivanovic is also on the way out.
Twenty-three year old Inter Milan midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia is on Conte's radar along with Sevilla star Steven N'Zonzi, 27. Kondogbia, a target for Arsenal last year, is unhappy at not playing regularly and - with Inter in meltdown - he wants out. The Chelsea boss also wants more depth in defence despite not conceding a goal since the 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on September 24. Although Kurt Zouma is set to return after the international break after ten months out with a knee injury, Conte still wants to add a centre-half and left-back. However, his hopes of prising Leonardo Bonucci away from Juventus look doomed after the 29-year-old said: "I feel I have the Juve shirt sewn to my body because I breathe it every day, but wearing the national shirt is also an honour. "I will give all I have got to improve my qualities and be important for Juve and for the national team. "Juve have always been my dream. I always supported them."

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James Collins pulls out of Wales squad ahead of World Cup Qualifier
By Claire Bloomfield
Last Updated: 08/11/16 12:28pm
SSN

West Ham defender James Collins has withdrawn from the Wales squad ahead of Saturday's World Cup Qualifier against Serbia. The 33-year-old is thought to have suffered a calf strain and leaves manager Chris Coleman with a defensive headache with Tottenham's Ben Davies also ruled out of the game in Cardiff. The Hammers centre-back would have been favourite to replace Davies in Wales' three-man defence but pulled out of the squad when they met on Monday night. Collins, who has won 50 caps for his country, has been replaced in the squad by MK Dons defender Joe Walsh. Tottenham's Davies picked up a knock in the Champions League last week and Bristol City's Adam Matthews has stepped up in his absence. Wales sit third in Group D of World Cup European qualifying after picking up five points from their opening three games. Wales have lost the two previous games they have played against Serbia, including a 6-1 thrashing in September 2012.

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?Justice for West Ham supporters in London Stadium Block 114
By Essex Chronicle | Posted: November 08, 2016
By Ollie Knight

Hammers fan and Essex Live columnist Ollie Knight wants to know why those in Block 114 at the London Stadium are being moved and treated different from everyone else.
Saturday's encounter with Stoke was hailed by West Ham CEO Karren Brady for having 'no violent clashes', but a number of supporters still went away with feelings of frustration, anguish and disillusionment at what happened in the stands. The game itself hardly pulled up any trees, a 1-1 draw was probably a fair result after a decidedly poor 90 minutes where neither side looked like grabbing all three points.
And although no skirmishes were reported, season ticket holders previously occupying block 114 of the London Stadium will beg to differ. In the lead up to Saturday's game a letter was sent to season ticket holders in block 114, explaining that they would have to be moved to block 127 as a result of increased segregation between home and away fans.
Bizarrely, these supporters were placed behind the goal in the Sir Trevor Brooking stand, directly next to visiting supporters. Not only was this move a recipe for further crowd trouble, but unofficial 'snatch squads' were employed and tensions rose just before the half-hour mark when they proceeded to walk down the aisles instructing the former block 114 supporters to sit down. They were subsequently backed up by the Metropolitan Police, who looked as though they expected crowd trouble from the West Ham fans, overlooking confrontations between Stoke City supporters and stewards in the upper-tier.
Even though it is only a minority of season-ticket holders who have been affected, it is completely unreasonable to treat loyal supporters in such a way, they paid for their seat at the start of the season and have a right to occupy the seat they have paid for. If persistent-standing is the issue, then why were snatch squads not employed in block 113 and 112? Or even the Bobby Moore lower tier. It seems as though these particular fans from 114 were targeted with the intention of confrontation or worse.
With all of the drama on the pitch this season, West Ham simply can't afford to create more problems off it. The 2-1 League Cup victory against Chelsea was the first time a real atmosphere had been created in the new ground, so why on Earth would someone make the decision to break up the standing sections and force half of them to sit down. The decision to deliberately target those in block 127 also breaks the Stadium's code of conduct, which states: "Guests have a right to expect an environment where: "Guests will be treated in a consistent, professional and courteous manner by all venue personnel."
The atmosphere was flat again on Saturday, and it comes as no surprise after the seating-changes. Whether it was the LLDC (London Legacy Development Corporation) or Karren Brady who made the decision to move and target supporters remains unclear, but all we can do is hope that these problems are suitably addressed before the visit of north-London rivals Arsenal in just under one month's time.

Follow Ollie on Twitter @OllieKnight_

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Zaza: 'Napoli in motion'
By Football Italia staff

A member of Simone Zaza's entourage told Italian radio that "something is in motion" for the West Ham striker's move to Napoli. It is well known that the Partenopei are seeking a new centre-forward in the January transfer window, as Arkadiusz Milik is recovering from a ruptured ACL and Manolo Gabbiadini has so far failed to impress in that role. "Something is definitely there and something is in motion," the unnamed member of Zaza's entourage told Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli reporters. This suggest there is a negotiation in progress for the Italy international, who is technically still owned by Juventus. West Ham would have to buy Zaza for €20m once he reaches 14 appearances for the club. So far he has nine in all competition, without scoring a single goal. According to Calciomercato.it, the Hammers intend to either activate the clause and then sell him on to Napoli for around €20m or send Zaza back to Juventus early, paying just the €5m loan fee. It's possible Napoli will try to include Gabbiadini in any potential swap deal with West Ham.

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