West Ham United Preview

By Mark Heys
March 10 2006

Tommorow afternoon sees Bolton Wanderers take on West Ham United at the Reebok Stadium in what will be the first of two matches against the East London club this week.

Firstly the two teams will need to meet in the Premiership fixture and this will then be followed up by a televised FA Cup replay at Upton Park on Wednesday evening.

Bolton have already played the Hammers three times so far this season and have won two and drawn one, with the last success coming in the Carling Cup game back in October.

The Londoners are unbeaten since the turn of the year but have drawn their last two games, one of which was co-incidentally the original FA Cup fifth round tie against the Wanderers in the middle of last month.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce could have experienced defender Bruno N'Gotty back in contention after an ankle knock but it is expected that Jay-Jay Okocha (thigh) and El-Hadji Diouf (hernia) will be missing.

Striker Matt Jansen is also ruled out with a recurring knee problem and could join long term absentees Khalilou Fadiga and Ivan Campo on the treatment table. However, midfielder Abdoulaye Faye is expected to shake off a recent viral infection.

West Ham's only other new injury concern is regarding skipper Nigel Reo-Coker as the England U21 star has been laid low with an illness for the most part of this week.

Former Portsmouth and Newcastle keeper Shaka Hislop is once again expected in goal as regular custodian Roy Carroll is yet to reach full fitness following a long standing back problem.

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)

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 9

Won: 3

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 last league meeting between these two clubs at the Reebok Stadium 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.

Bolton have won two out of their last three meetings with the Hammers in all competitions.