West Ham 1 Man City 0

Shaun Newton got his first goal for West Ham on the 14th minute scoring from 18yrds from a Bobby Zamora left wing cross. This was not a convincing win against a weakened and out of form side. City had the ball in the back of the net twice, only for both goals to be disallowed for offside. Sinclair had a shot seemingly heading for goal only for an offside Micah Richard to stupidly run onto it and get a touch (the ball may also have been over the line when he touched it). Vassell also had a late strike disaallowed.

In the second half City piled on the pressure, particularly towards the end of the game and West Ham were lucky in the end to hang on for the win. However a win is a good start to the week. We now face two games against Boro. A nice away draw and then a win in the semi-final and we will all be happy Hammers again.

West Ham vs City - Radio Live

There doesn't seem to be any live tv feeds of today's game.

Here is a live radio feed. It is working now (half an hour before the game).

Barthez Linked with West Ham

Sky Sports are today linking Fabien Barthez with West Ham. Barthez' contract with Marseille runs out in the summer and the club are refusing to match his current wage. With Carroll's injury problems and Hislop's age Pardew is believed to be interested in picking Barthez up on a free. However if he leaves Marseille for money reasons it is unlikely that the player will fit into the pay scale at West Ham.

Dean Ashton Wants to Recapture Form

West Ham striker Dean Ashton, speaking to Sky Sports, says he is keen to emulate his last game against City.

"I haven't scored since the City quarter final. It was a great night for me and the team and I hope tomorrow will be the same. It would be really disappointing for everyone if we just faded away now and finished with an average season in mid-table. We really want to push on. I am a harsh critic of myself, every player should be, it's how you improve - and my performances in recent weeks haven't been up to my expectations.

I need to get back on track and it would be great to score a couple of goals before the semi-final. I have only been here two and a half months and I only really felt fully settled at Norwich just before I left. It takes a year to be fully settled in but the trip we made to Dubai last week was really good for me. Being a new player it gave me a chance to bond with the players and get a bit of sun on my back."

West Ham vs Man City

City have yet to pick up an away point in 2006 and have lost their last five games. Joey Barton is out of the game and fellow midfielders Claudio Reyna and Antoine Sibierski are also both doubtful for the game. David James has conceded more goals than any other keeper in Premier League history (to be fair - he has also played the most games). So this should be an easy home win, however West Ham's recent form has only been marginally better than City's.

Anton Ferdinand is not named in the West Ham squad but Nigel Reo-Coker and Matthew Etherington have recovered from slight knocks and are both included. Also named in the squad is 18-year-old left winger Kyel Reid, who has impressed at reserve team level recently.

Teddy Sheringham could reach another personal milestone. If he gets a game it will be his 500th appearance in English top flight football.

Pardew Attacks Europe on Two Fronts

Alan Pardew says he wants West Ham to qualify for Europe through the league and through the cup.

“The two routes into Europe are still open to us and there are not many teams who can say that,” said Pardew.

Victory against Boro in the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park a week on Sunday will secure West Ham a place in next season’s UEFA Cup. However Pardew also wants West Ham to finish at least seventh in the league.

Pardew has set a target of four points from Saturday’s game against City and Monday’s trip to Boro. This could prove a tough ask for West Ham as they have looked pretty jaded of late. The City game should be a banker but Boro have been on good form lately. Pardew has said he wants the players to put, "the semi-final at the back of their mind. We don’t want it to cloud the fantastic opportunity we have of seventh place in the Premiership, which I do believe is European qualification.

Ferdinand Nominated for Young Player of Year

Anton Ferdinand's excellent first year in the premiership has been recognised by the PFA who have nominated him for Young Player of the Year. The other nominees are Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, Darren Bent, Cesc Fabregas and Aaron Lennon.

PFA Chief Executive Gordon Taylor says: "I'm really impressed with the way Anton has adapted to life in The Premiership, just as West Ham have done as a club. I'm glad he's reflecting West Ham's success because he deserves that...and he's certainly going some way towards reaching the heights of his older brother."

Other News Stuart Pearce says he won't risk Joey Barton against West Ham. Barton is suffering from an ankle injury. Claudio Reyna and Antoine Sibierski are also doubts for City.

Roy Carroll Out for Rest of Season

Alan Pardew claims that West Ham goalkeeper Roy Carroll will be out for the rest of the season. Carroll picked up his current injury during West Ham's win over Fulham and had to undergo surgery on his back.

The manager also said that Christian Dailly has a chance of making it back before the season's end, but Anton Ferdinand, who missed Sunday's game at Stamford Bridge with a recurrence of his thigh injury, may also miss this weekend's game against City.

"Anton aggravated his thigh injury when he came back for the Charlton game and I think he is less than 50/50 for the weekend," revealed the boss.

Pardew also commented on the rumours this week linking Reo-Coker with Manure, "It is very flattering and I expect to hear that sort of story about my players, just as when Anton was linked with Barcelona. They have both done terrifically well this season, they are both on long contracts, they are both very happy here, so it is not something that I need to worry about."

West Ham vs Man City

After our poor league form of late we need to get back to winning ways, so who better to face than City who are in a run of even poorer form. After West Ham outclassed them in the quarter-finals their players have been playing like their season is over.

Both West Ham and City go into this match coming off poor results last Saturday. City lost at home to a Middlesbrough side who fielded seven academy players, resting senior players for tonight's FA Cup clash against Charlton. Both West Ham and City have won only two games out of their last eight league games and West Ham have won just two more points than City from these games. However this should be an easy home win for West Ham.

Other News

Middlesbrough and Charlton's FA Cup replay is live on BBC tonight. The winners of this game will play West Ham in the semi-final.

West Ham Defend Dubai Trip

West Ham director Paul Aldridge has defended the club's trip to Dubai. He said:

"The trip to Dubai had been planned in principal from very early on, and once a date was agreed we discussed the destination with Yossi and Yaniv and, although they did not wish to travel with the squad, they were insistent that the plans were not altered. We were keen to ensure that the benefit we believe the squad will gain from the break was enjoyed by all the players. We therefore arranged a similar break for Yaniv and Yossi in Spain, where they had the advantage of being able to be with their young families.

Surely, this trip was partly intended to be a team building exercise so why did the club decide to go to a country that two of the players couldn't visit? Aldridge seems to be passing the buck onto Yossi and Yaniv, but not only does Israel advise its citizens not to travel to Dubai but Israeli citizens are not allowed into the United Arab Emirates. This had nothing to do therefore with the players' 'wishes'.

Yossi and Katan Not Taken to Dubai

The Guardian reports today that Yossi Benayoun and Yaniv Katan did not travel to Dubai with the rest of the players but were sent to Marbella in Spain. When asked about his feeling at being left behind the paper reports Katan as saying that "Sometimes the best thing is not to react". The paper also claim that Benayoun looked unhappy with the decision of Alan Pardew to substitute him on Sunday.

Israeli citizens are not allowed into the United Arab Emirates and the Israeli Foreign Office advises them not to travel there. So it begs the question why the trip was booked there in the first place. Even Brown can't be stupid enough to have done this on purpose, so it must have been a horrible mistake. However once the mistake was realised surely an alternative venue could have been found. Benayoun is a young man who has left clubs in the past because of home sickness and this will hardly have made him feel at home.

So West Ham arranged a shambolic trip away which was then followed by a shambolic performance on the pitch. Great mangement.

Pardew asks Board for £15 million

Both FansFC.org and all3points report today that Pardew has asked the board for a transfer budget of £15 million. After yesterday's performance it is obvious we need two or three more good players. One of the problems Pardew has in games is that he only has substitute options up front.

He said: "I have already told the board what I want. The figure I have talked about is pushing them again. I have a good relationship with them - they have been very good to me. I have to keep putting success in front of them and, if I do that, then I shall get what I want."

Pardew has already spent most of the transfer budget earmarked for the summer on Ashton so it is unlikely that the board will give way to his demands.

Pardew on Yesterday's Game

West Ham manager Alan Pardew reflected after the game on how a ten man Blues side can work harder than eleven men.

"We scored the goal and then they were reduced to ten men - and we switched off at that point. We went away from what we're about - the exuberance and positiveness that we've had all year. We kind of drifted out of the game unfortunately, and we gifted them goals. It was a tough afternoon for us - and a tough afternoon for West Ham fans.

The trip to Dubai was designed to lift the players. Bolton made the same trip and went on to beat Arsenal 1-0, so we were hoping the trick was going to work for us - but it didn't today. We'll have to look at ourselves as a squad - and staff - and make sure that next week we're better prepared, and ready for it. On our side, I think we just thought 'well okay, we can keep playing as we are and we'll be alright' - and that wasn't good enough. Ten world-class players pulled themselves together, worked twice as hard and came away with a great victory for Chelsea. They're still an excellent team, we knew we had a challenge today. They've had a lot of criticism - some of it unfairly. But they answered their critics today - and we bore the brunt of that."

Chelsea 4 West Ham 1

West Ham tried to copy the Chelski's line up by playing five in midfield, with Harewood on the right and Benayoun in the middle. The Blues however started with a 4-4-2 formation, with Crespo and Drogba up front. Although Benayoun looked good in the middle of the field being a more effective passer than Reo-Coker the Blues started well and looked in control of the game early on.

However Harewood on 10 minutes won a corner on the right wing and Collins scored with a near post header. Straight from the restart the Blues had two good chances, Gabbidon just cleared a cross between two Blues attackers and Essien headed over an easy chance from six yards out. Then a minute later Maniche hit the bar from five yards out. It was beginning to look like West Ham were going to have to defend for 80 minutes.

Then on 15 minutes Scaloni went diving into a tackle and Maniche stamped over the ball and caught Scaloni. Maniche was sent off. West Ham now had five midfielders against Chelsea's three and were able to keep some possession. Just as West Ham were beginning to control the game though, on 28 minutes, Drogba beat Collins in the chase for a long ball and equalised for the Blues. Two minutes later Crespo scored from a Drogba cross to give the Blues the lead.

West Ham then seemed to forget they had the extra man and began to let the Blues dominate possession. On 42 minutes Shaka saved well diving at Drogba's feet when the attacker latched onto a cross and found himself one-on-one with the keeper. Just before the break West Ham had their first chance for a while when Lumpard pulled back Benayoun on the edge of the box. Etherington however shot into the wall.

On 53 minutes West Ham failed to clear from a corner, Gallas shot and hit the bar, and Terry scored from the rebound eight yards out. On 60 mins Harewood glanced a header wide from a free kick from Konchesky on the left wing. From a free kick, won by a Robben dive, Gallas scored the Blues fourth. On 70 minutes Sheringham replaced Benayoun and on 87 minutes he had a shot cleared off the line. But the chances for West Ham were few and far between.

None of the West Ham players came out of this game with any credit. We were thrashed by ten men and didn't have a shot on goal for half an hour after the oppostion had a player sent off. West Ham haven't played well in two months, except in the Man City FA cup game, and what looked to be a promising season is now petering out. We have the FA Cup semi-final to look forward to but morale in the squad must be getting lower and lower. God I'm pissed off. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to avoid relegation and we have achieved that but we have looked a poor team of late.

Chelski vs West Ham

I've been feeling negative about this match all week. Despite the Blues' recent dodgy away form they have continued to win at home and Mourinho has pointed out that they only have to win their remaining home games to win the league. Added to that have been rumours that Anton Ferdinand has an injury.

However now the hungover morning of the match has arrived I feel much more confident. The Blues have been looking tired recently, especially fat Lamps and Drogba's recent cheating antics means that the ref probably won't let him get away with anything. Hopefully Ashton will still be smarting after being subbbed at half time against Charlton and feel that he has something to prove today.

A win is still a long-shot but I think we can get a draw from this game.