WestHamFirm

Sam1 · Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:43 am West ham v birmingham preview

This Saturday Alan Curbishley will take his claret an dblue army up north to play newly promoted Birmingham city.

Birmingham have opened their campaign this seson by taking just one point from a possible six after an opening day defeat to Chelsea, but bounced back with a 2-2 draw against fellow newly promoted side Sunderland.

West Ham's midweek game was postponed due to champions league qualifiers being played by their scheduled oppenants Liverpool.

Birmingham have no fresh injury worries for this game and their could be some good news for West Ham in that department.

Club captain Lucas Neill has made a faster than expected recovery and could be handed a spot in the starting 11 though he has admitted he is not fully fit.

New signing Kieron Dyer could start in the middles alongside Mark Noble or Lee Bowyer. Manager Alan Curbishley has assured fans that we won't see a repeat of the clash between Bowyer and Dyer when they were at Newcastle.

Overall, due to Birminghams goal scoring record of 2 goals per game and West Ham having something to prove as a whole after a performance to forget last Saturday. Many see this one coming out as a fraw but my prediction is West Ham to scrape this game.

Key men-

West Ham: Freddie Ljungberg - The pacy winger will give West Ham that width on either side he plays which could cause Birmingham many problems.

Birmingham: Liam Ridgewell - The new signing can be a strong force at the back for Birmingham and will provide tough competition for the West Ham strikers.

Milestones-

West Ham: Scott Parker and Kieron Dyer can make their league debuts for West Ham. Dean ASHTON needs a double to bring his career total of club goals to 100.
Zamora will be making his 300th club career appearance if he plays.
Lucas NEILL will be making his 200th career Premier League appearance.
Jonathan SPECTOR will be making his 50th career Premier League appearance.

Birmignham: Stuart PARNABY will be making his 100th career league appearance if he plays.

Key fact: Birmingham's last top-flight home victory over West Ham was 1-0 on 17 August 1985.

Injuries-

West Ham: Julien Faubert (Achillies)
Nigel Quashie (foot)
Callum Davenport (hernia)

Birmingham: Damien Johnson (hamstring)
Matt Sadler (Achillies)
Martin Taylor (stomach muscle)
Rafael Schmitz (Achilles)
Franck Queudrue (ankle)

Peter Parka · Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:21 pm

Would be good to see Neill start though I wouldn't want him to rush back to soon, be good to see how Dyer does, I think far too much has been made of the situation with Bowyer and I dont expect there to be any trouble between them.

ferrit · Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:16 pm

I would rather see neil in a few weeks rather than lose him again possibly for a longer spell on the side lines :(

Peter Parka · Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:43 am

Well at least we're off the mark with points on the board now! :D

Man-of-the-Match Mark Noble brought a shining ray of sunshine to showery St Andrew's with a coolly-taken second-half penalty that gave the hard-working Hammers their first victory of the season.

The busy England U-21 international fired home the winner with 20 minutes remaining to cap a wonderful display and ensure that West Ham collected three richly-deserved points.

Earlier, Alan Curbishley had handed a debut to midweek signing, Keiron Dyer, as he made three changes from the side that kicked-off with an unwelcome defeat against Manchester City.

Just 24 hours after his call-up for England's friendly against Germany on Wednesday, the £7 million-rated midfielder replaced former Newcastle United team-mate Lee Bowyer, while Matthew Etherington was preferred to Luis Boa Morte and Hayden Mullins came in for injured skipper, Freddie Ljungberg.

That meant that Matthew Upson was handed the captain's armband and he duly received a heated reception from the locals upon his return to rainswept Birmingham and, more painfully, a crunching early challenge from Mehdi Nafti, who curiously escaped a yellow card.

But with just five minutes on the clock, referee Mark Halsey was less forgiving when Mullins was cautioned for felling Sebastian Larsson in a feisty opening, that also saw debutant Dyer cut in from the right flank and tumble in the slippery St. Andrew's penalty area, under the challenge of the unpunished Stephen Kelly.

Following their midweek draw against Sunderland, which came four days after an opening day defeat at Chelsea, Steve Bruce made two changes as Radhi Jaidi came in for the injured Johan Djourou and Garry O'Connor replaced Gary McSheffrey in attack.

And as the quarter-hour mark approached, O'Connor finally unleashed the first goal attempt of the afternoon but his low, 18-yarder skidded wide of the untroubled Robert Green amid the cheers of the Hammers fans shoe-horned into the seating behind his goal.

Indeed, the opening proceedings had been littered with a string of untidy free-kicks and equally unwelcome offside flags but on 25 minutes, Noble sent a low, 25-yarder aqua-planing through the Blues' wall and onto the beaten Colin Doyle's right-hand post, after Jaidi hand-balled under pressure from Bobby Zamora.

In reply, the breaking Mikael Forsell sliced wide, but it was West Ham who were gaining the initiative as Noble's corner was scooped over by Anton Ferdinand, before the overlapping Jonathan Spector latched onto Mullins' miscue and sent a low angled 12-yard shot crashing into Doyle's ribcage.

In first-half stoppage time, Green was finally called into action, when he turned aside Jaidi's 15-yarder as the ball flew through a pack of bodies, but to the frustration of the damp 24,961 crowd, Referee Halsey - who also booked Stuart Parnaby and Spector for fouls on George McCartney and Larsson - had been the busiest man of the opening 45 minutes.

Just after the break, Zamora blazed over the angle and then the prodding and probing Noble impressively carried on from where he had left off before the interval, with a barnstorming run and cutback that climaxed with Dyer inadvertently blocking Craig Bellamy's goal-bound eight-yarder.

After Nafti was finally booked for one foul too many, Larsson then volleyed back across goal but West Ham still held the upper hand and having spent the opening hour sat in the stand, Alan Curbishley headed to the dug-out in an effort to spur on the visitors, yet further.

And the manager's pitch-side arrival was soon greeted by the sight of Zamora sending Spector's probing cross over the top and another angled effort wide of the far post.

Midway through the half, however, the east enders deservedly broke the deadlock when the exposed, diving Doyle upended Bellamy as the Welshman raced onto Dyer's well-weighted through-ball into the danger zone.

And after the heated home protests had died down, Noble remained the coolest man on the pitch, to stroke the resultant spot-kick into the bottom right-hand corner as the furious 'keeper dived in the opposite direction.

In the dying moments, both the breaking Dyer and surging Bellamy had great chances to double the advantage, only for the solitary figure of Doyle to thwart their efforts, but in the end Noble's strike still proved enough to give Hammers that welcome first win of the campaign.

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