West Ham United Preview

By Mark Heys
December 7 2006

Bolton look to continue their Indian sign over West Ham United when the two sides meet at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday evening..

Since the Reebok opened nine years ago the Hammers have failed to win at the stadium with Bolton collecting ten points from a possible twelve out of this fixture when on home soil.

The Hammers are currently languishing in the bottom three after losing successive games at Everton and Wigan, whilst the Wanderers have dropped down a few places to ninth following their recent defeat at Reading.

A win for either side would help them climb up the table and at this stage of the season both managers will be looking for as many points as possible at a busy festive period.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has mixed news on the defensive front as Israeli defender Tal Ben-Haim is suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season at the Madejski Stadium last week.

However, Ricardo Gardner is likely to be included for the first time this season after successfully coming through his second reserve team game at Everton on Tuesday evening.

West Ham will definately be without long term absentees Dean Ashton who is still recovering from a broken ankle and ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll who has personal problems to contend with.

Welsh international Danny Gabbidon is also ruled out with a hamstring problem so James Collins is likely to keep his place alongside Anton Ferdinand at the heart of the defence.

PREMIERSHIP RECORD

18/11/1995 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 WEST HAM UNITED 3 (Bishop, Cottee, Williamson)

13/04/1996 WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Cottee) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

18/10/1997 WEST HAM UNITED 3 (Berkovic, Hartson 2) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

21/02/1998 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Blake) WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Sinclair)

09/02/2002 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Gardner) WEST HAM UNITED 0

11/05/2002 WEST HAM UNITED 2 (Lomas, Pearce) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Djorkaeff)

21/12/2002 WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Pearce) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Ricketts)

19/04/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Okocha) WEST HAM UNITED 0

27/08/2005 WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Sheringham) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Nolan, Campo)

11/03/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 4 (Giannakopoulos 2, Speed, Pedersen) WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Sheringham)

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 10

Won: 4

Drawn: 2

Lost: 4

CONNECTIONS

Steve Banks, Franz Carr, David Cross, Les Ferdinand, Harry Kinsell

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED WEST HAM

When West Ham defeated Bolton in November 1995 there where furious demonstrations after the game by supporters calling for the departure of manager Roy McFarland.

The league meeting between these two clubs at the Reebok Stadium in April 2003 was bitter to say the least as both Joe Cole and Rufus Brevett lashed out at their Bolton counterparts following the sending off of teammate Ian Pearce for a foul on Pierre-Yves Andre, none of these players are still at the respective clubs.

Last season Bolton faced the Hammers on five seperate occasions. Twice in the Premiership, twice in the FA Cup and once in the League Cup with the Hammers winning just once.