I guess one good thing about the transfer window coming to an end on a Monday is that we can see some reasonably settled players starting in time for the weekend.  However, I’d be surprised if more than one of our three musketeers makes a start on Saturday, with the a fairly settled team beaten once in six.

Our opponents this Saturday are Burnley, who we stuttered to a 5-3 victory over just a couple of months back.  But that was during a rather un-settled period and things are a bit more settled at the club now, both on and off the pitch.  For all the idolising of Owen Coyle, I was amazed to see that Bunrley have not won a Premier League game since 31st October.  Although there are a few draws in there they have lost their last four on the trot.  They are there for the taking and we have to take advantage of that.

So, my line up;

Green

Spector – Upson – Tomkins – Faubert

Collison – Parker – Behrami – Diamanti

Cole – Mccarthy

Bench: Kurucz, Da Costa, Mido, Stanislas, Illunga, Ilan and Noble

I don’t think you can justify Noble and Kovac on the bench, so I’d go with two attacking options in Mido and Ilan, neither are probably fully fit but could do something un-expected if required.  This does also mean a return to the stiffs for Nouble and Sears, harsh but the circumstances dictate it.  I liken the strength of our bench however.

Mark Lawrenson has predicted 1-1 for this one, I’m going for a cheeky 1-2 to the Hammers with both the strikers pitching in.  SkyBet will give you 10/1 on that scoreline and a free bet, worth a punt for sure.  If we can win this then we can start to push away from the tentacles of relegation and rest under the wings of mid table mediocrity, that would suit me this season for sure.  It’s there for the taking lads, come on you Irons!!!

Ilan, the Brazilian striker from St Etienne has signed a contract until the end of the season.  Meaning West Ham have signed three strikers on transfer deadline.  Fair play to Mr Gold and Sullivan, they kept their word that they would strengthen us up-front.  I imagine Cole and Mccarthy will be our first choice front two with the other boys on the bench, but Zola may be thinking about deploying a third striker in some instances.

And, more importantly, no one has left Upton Park, hopefully the lads are all united to push us up the table and things are looking up at Upton Park.

Slightly under-whelmed by this one, but I didn't realise he was only 26, I thought he was well into his thirties, seems to have been around for ages.  I guess he is okay back up for the first choice of Mccarthy and Cole.  Ilan deal still in negotiation, these things can happen after the deadline as we saw saw when we got Di Michele and Illunga, so stay tuned...

Which is a relief as I was starting to get nervous, but all confirmed on the official site and the lad has been on Sky Sports News and he sounded genuinely pleased to be joining us.  Welcome Benni, we look forward to seeing you banging some goals in the back of the net soon.

Ilan and Mido still seem to be in talks with the club, but I'm most chuffed with Mccarthy, he's a proven Premier League goalscorer.

Hmmm, possibly my worst headline yet, but to be honest it goes well with what was one of the worst games I've seen at Upton Park for some time.  But I think it all boils down to one simple equation, and that is firepower= winning.  We've got some very hard working and skillful players, but up-front we are crying out for a natural finisher to put the final touch on all the build up play.  It was the same story against Pompey on Tuesday to be honest.  But if we have Mccarthy and at the end of Monday, I'll be confident of turning these draws into victories.  However, one thing i do know is that one defeat in six is not relegation form.

Before the ratings I want to give a big shout out to Julien Faubert.  I had a comments debate with some fans the other day about Faubert.  For me, he has been the most improved player this season, while we see others such as Collison and Illunga go backwards (Jack clearly has had a tough time and I think needs another break).  But Julien came back to Upton Park the fittest of them all and has been determined to show why we paid £7m for him.  Yesterday his performance was good but the fact he played 48 hours after the death of his mother makes his performance all the special.  Well done Julien and thank you.

Green - 5 - possibly the first time I've given him a five, his kicking was atrocious and in spite of a couple of good saves, just didn't like his body language yesterday

Spector - 7 - it's not a good day when one of your best players is the left back, but Specs played possibly his best game for the Hammers yesterday

Upson - 6 - pretty solid

Tomkins - 7 - likewise and growing in stature, seeing the Tomkins we thought we had now

Faubert - 8 - my man of the match, based on the performance and the circumstances

Collison - out of sorts on the wings, think he can be better dispensed as an 'AMC' as Championship Manager would say

Kovac - 6 - after a good performance against Pompey, I thought he was a bit poor yesterday

Noble - 6 - see Kovac report, started brightly but faded in the second half

Behrami - 6 - lots of running, he's a good player but plays better when the team is doing well

Diamanti - 6 - hot and cold as usual but still for me out most threatening player on the pitch

Nouble - 5 - really struggled against the excellent Samba, needs to continue learning his trade

Zola/Clarke - 6 - could not un-lock the door Rovrs put in front of us

Anyway, onwards and upwards, hopefully a couple of new signings will shake things up, we'll know by 5pm tomorrow!

According to Sky Sports this evening, Benni Mccarthy has agreed to a two and a half year deal and is just a doctor's cough away from signing for the Hammers.  Meanwhile, Eidur Gudjohnsen is hurrying him out of the cubcile to say 'ahhhhhh' and hurry up and sign a loan deal until the end of the season.

After watching tonight, it's clear that it is up-front where we lack quality and I like the way Gold and Sullivan have zoned in on this.  You may think it obvious, but there are other owners who would ignore such signs.  I welcome both to Upton Park, suddenly firepower is not such an issue and I hope that young Frank Nouble who put in another good shift tonight can learn a little refinement.

Wonder if Benni will make his debut against Blackburn on Saturday?!

The Hammers have their first test since the partial takeover last week, and an important one it is too.  Fellow strugglers Portsmouth are the hosts, but the Hammers can take heart from our 2-0 victory over Pompey just a few weeks ago.   We also have other reasons to be cheerful, with the short term security of the club settled, whilst Pompey are still dealing with issues with wages and the prevention of any strengthening in the transfer window by the Premier League.

I believe it will now be too late to introduce a new signing to the line up tomorrow, even if we got one.  I hear the Mccarthy deal is likely to happen shortly, with Blackburn acknowledging our official bid but having an issue with Benni not turning up to training since Thursday.  I’m not convinced Beattie will happen, it’s more likely Rovers will pick him up as a replacement for Mccarthy.  Beattie would be a good match for the way Allardyce likes to play.  Still, let’s hope we can get him soon and can un-leash him against Rovers this Saturday!

Back to tomorrow then and good news that Carlton Cole is set to make the bench with his recovery going well.  Franco and Illunga are still out with Parker still struggling a bit with his hamstring.  Still, we know what a valuable player Scotty can be, so we may have to start with him.  Frank Nouble grew in stature against Villa and another away game may see him grow some more, I’ve every faith in starting him.

Green

Spector – Upson – Tomkins – Faubert

Collison – Behrami – Parker – Noble – Diamanti

Nouble

Bench:  Kurucz, Kovac, Stanislas, Da Costa, Daprela, Cole and Jiminez

Pompey picked up a couple of knocks in the Cup on Saturday and also have a couple of lads away for the Africa Nations, so there is no reason not to come back from  Fratton Park with a result.  I’m predicting a hard fought 1-2 victory for the Hammers with Nouble opening his account and Diamanti popping up with the second.  Come on you Irons!!!

Nigel Quashie has left the Hammers for QPR, nice to see Gold and Sullivan starting the clear out.  Quashie's eight appearances in four years will not be remembered with much affection.  If anything summed up the carelessness of the Icelandic age, this is it.  Confirmed on the official site.  Meanwhile, Josh Payne has also joined Wycombe on loan to get some first team football, good luck Josh, hope you get some games and start to push for the first team at Upton Park.

Well, there has not exactly been lots of interest so far in this month's transfer window, suggesting that belt tightening is going on at a variety of clubs.  Which I think makes it good news for the buyers, as clubs are desperate to recoup revenue they may have carelessly splurged in the past few years.

I'm not suggesting that Real Madrid are in that situation, but I am hearing interesting things about Ruud Van Nistelrooy coming to Upton Park.  I'm in two minds about this, an undoutedly quality striker, RVN has struggled with injuries of late and we don't really need to add to our medical woes.  But if the Hammers staff are confident he is fit then it would be a nice signing.  Feeling the same kind of way about Benni Mcarthy, his time to join us was a few years ago when coming from Porto, not necessarily now.  His time at Rovers appears to be at an end and again if he can stay fit, would be a nice addition.  The other rumours are Luke Young or Alan Hutton coming in as right back cover (or replacement for Faubert?).  Young would probably be my preference, as he is more defensive minded, Hutton likes to get forward in the same way Faubert does and I'm not sure there is a huge amount of difference between them, Hutton may be a slightly better defender.

Anyhow, definitely interesting times down the Boleyn and it's nice to be able to wonder about who is coming in, not who is going out!  More news as I get it...

Well, it's been an incredible day, pretty historic if you are a Hammers fan.  For the first time we got an understanding of the state of the club and how close we were to some serious trouble and selling some key players.  At the same time, Sullivan and Gold have ridden into town, with Gold's links to adult entertainment leading some to call us 'Wrist Ham'.  Still, it's great to be smiling about the club rather than worrying if Parker and Upson are going to be in our nest starting line up.

One place that has been useful to find out what's been happening is on Twitter, so I thought I'd give you some useful twitter links of people to follow with regards to the Hammers, some informative, some fun...follow away....

http://twitter.com/westhamunited - my twitter!  Don't constantly update but definitely trying to get more active, please follow me!

http://twitter.com/tonyfernandes -second choice Tony may still have a role to play in the club and he likes to update on what is going on, keep an eye on him here

http://twitter.com/jamescollins29 - okay, so he is in the wrong claret and blue these days but he will always be one of our own, James Collins is a regular updater

http://twitter.com/iaindale - Politician and keen Hammers fan Iain tweets alot about the Hammers as well as politics

http://twitter.com/olasfanzine - official twitter of Gary Firmager from long time West Ham fanzine Over land and Sea

http://twitter.com/rustyrockets  - celebrity Hammers fan Russel Brand occasionally mentions the Hammers

Feel free to add any other hammers on Twitter in the comments section...