Although I think the Hull result was the crucial one for the season, tomorrow’s visit of the turgid Bolton Wanderers could cement our Premier League status, should the result fall our way.  However, it’s certainly not a result we can take for granted, with Bolton proving to be something of a thorn in the side of the Hammers, but in footballing terms, their presence at Upton Park being reminiscent to me of a thrash metal guitarist turning up at a classical concert.

However, with decent home form starting to show this game is certainly winnable.  Owen Coyle’s penchant for at least trying to play football could work in our favour, as the game could be played on the deck and we have the players who make a difference there.  Bolton’s recent win against Wolves covers a run of 7 games previous to that without a victory.  On form, the Hammers should be winning this.

As for the line-up, let’s hope Mr Upson changes his glass slippers for football boots, the team has been settled of late and I don’t see much reason to change;

Green

Spector – Upson – Tomkins – Faubert

Diamanti – Parker – Kovac – Behrami

Cole – Franco

Bench:  Stetch, Da Costa, Mido, Stanislas, Noble, Collison and Ilan

The lads have really got to be up for this one, we know that Bolton will be.  A win not only gives us three crucial points but pushes us further away from Bolton in the zone as well.  It’s going to be tough but I’m feeling 2-1 to the Hammers with Cole and Franco troubling the scorers.  Come on you Irons!!!

Three West Ham players were on the pitch at the final whistle of tonight's England game, the biggest Premiership representation.  England, resplendent in their New England Kit finished fairly convincing winners 3-1 after a confident start by Egypt, a team who have surprisingly not qualified on this performance.

As for the Hammers players, a mixed night.  Carlton Cole was only on for just under 10 minutes, replacing the tireless Rooney.  Upson was at fault for the Egypt goal, slipping at a crucial moment but otherwise did well.  Green had a fairly decent game, but his tendency towards David James like kicking was once again apparent with a couple of heart stopping moments.  But the fact that he stayed in goal for the 90 suggests his place is booked.  I still feel it's a shame Scott Parker has not got into the reckoning, for me he is on a par with Gareth barry, but hey, I'm happy with three Irons going to the World Cup, it can be a good sign!

One of the best performances at Upton Park this season saw the Hammers climb to 13th as beat Hull city 3-0.  My preview headline for this one was win and we stay up and I still believe it.  If we get an invincible sense of ourselves at home and can pick a point or two away, we might even be able to enjoy the last couple of games of the season rather than be biting our nails.

All the lads were top yesterday, though big shouts out to Faubert, Diamanti and Cole who were all excellent.  I've been speaking about Faubert's quality for some time, he has improved markedly as the season has gone on and I'm really pleased he got the goal he clearly wanted to get.  I liked Diamanti from the moment he stepped on the pitch for us, the guy has an amazing left foot and is the creative powerhouse that makes things happen.  Cole was just very strong for us yesterday, causing the Hull defenders all sorts of panic.

As for Hull, they were poor.  I thought it was a crazy decision to makes 3 subs when you are down to ten men with around 25 minutes to go and they paid the price for that when Gardener limped off.  But they looked a team bereft of ideas and could well struggle if they continue to play like that.

Here are my ratings;

Green - 7 - was aware for a couple of good saves

Spector - 7 - solid and reliable

Upson - 7 - marshalled the defence well

Tomkins - 7 - helped keep the Hull attack quiet

Faubert - 8.5 - my man of the match, he was excellent

Diamanti - 8 - buzzing arond like a good un and kept Hull on their feet all game

Parker - 8 - quality play as usual from Scott

Kovac - 7 - valuable interception for the first goal and played well overall

Behrami - 7 - got a good goal and unlucky to get a second, never seen him have that many chances!

Cole - 8 - worked hard and finished his goal calmly

Franco - 7 - clearly enjoyed being back and linked well with Cole

Subs:

Ilan - 6 - pretty quiet when he came on

Mido - 6 - likewise

Collison - only on for 10

Zola/Clarke - 8 - got the lads well organised for this one.

Really chuffed at this result, we now need to keep the momentum going.  Come on you Irons!!!

I got an email from a fellow Hammer today who wanted to make me aware of his new fictional book about the Hammers, Match Fixer.  I've not had a chance to read it yet but it sounds like great fun, I'll let the author, Neil Humphreys, introduce himself and the book to you all....

Neil Humphreys: 

I grew up in Dagenham, which meant you had to be a West Ham fan or they lined you up against the changing room wall at Parsloes Park and shot you. Besides, my dad was a West fan so he would've shot me (even though he only became a West Ham supporter when, as a little kid, he wandered into Bobby Moore's sports shop in Green Street and Bobby Moore said: "you should support West Ham, mate". So my Dad sheepishly replied, " all right, Bobby" and he did. True story.)

The first game I saw, apparently, was a 3-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers in the 1980-81 season where Trevor Brooking either scored or played well. I can;t remember, but that's what my dad tells me. The first game I actually remember was a 3-1 defeat in 1987 to Charlton, I think. West Ham were terrible. The most recent game I saw was when I was back in London for the launch of Match Fixer recently. It was a home 0-0 draw against Blackburn Rovers. West Ham were terrible. Nothing has changed.

There were a few highlights inbetween. West Ham's League Cup run in the early 1990s led by Julian Dicks' left foot who seemed to be smashing them in from Green Street. Stuart Slater taking Everton apart in the FA Cup and then the surreal "Billy Bonds' claret and blue Army" party at Villa Park. We lost the FA Cup semi-final 4-0 to Forest. Galey was infairly sent off. West Ham never looked liked winning with 10 men. And we sang from the first minute to the last, carrying the players off shoulder high. Still the greatest game I've ever been to. And we lost 4-0. Ian Bishop still talks about that game. And we lost 4-0. Fortunes always hiding, but still we keep coming back.

On my travels all over the place (10 years in Singapore and Asia, 3 years in Australia), I wrote five books, which did well in Asia (see here: www.neilhumphreys.net) But I'd always wanted to write a book that somehow included West Ham, Dagenham, Trevor Brooking, Julian Dicks, Oasis, Singapore, Australia and a little bit of sex, drugs and rock n roll. Believe it or not, Match Fixer allowed me to include all of that, legitimately. I had been a football writer in Singapore and had covered a few real seedy, juicy cases of match-fixing, corruption and footballers being beaten up by bookies. So I decided to put the lot together, fictionalise it and call the book Match Fixer.

Match Fixer is the only book (and will probably remain the only book) that tells the story about a West Ham academy striker, born in Dagenham, who plays with Carlos Tevez, then takes his boots around the world and gets caught up in an exotic Asian world of sex, drugs, football gambling, gangsters and rock n roll.

That's essentially what Match Fixer is about. They'll never be another West Ham book like it.

Here's a picture of the author outside Upton Park with a copy his novel;

If you are intersted in the book, you can get hold of it from Amazon: Match Fixer

Best of luck to Neil with the book....

Okay, the maths would suggest otherwise, but this is how I feel about this weekend’s game against Hull and its importance in ensuring we survive.  Win and I think we have the momentum to pull ourselves out, lose and we go into some tough away games with desperation, which is not a good state of mind.  We need to treat this like it’s the last game of the season and we have to win it.  I really think it’s that important.

The Birmingham, result was a good one, though the game itself resembled Blackburn at home but with a couple of goals.  But now the new boys are settling in and we should have confidence going into this one.  Hull City, and their perma-tanned Manager Phil Brown have won only once since December, a similar record to Burnley’s when we face them, but we must ensure we don’t help them turn that poor record round like we did with the clarets.  I think they are a very average side and there is no reason why we can’t beat them with the quality we have.

Speaking of which , the team should line up as they did against Birmingham, with perhaps Spector coming in for the injured Illunga.  Mido is clearly bursting to scorer and I like his attitude.  And Mccarthy would be a great impact sub if there is any struggle in the scoreline.  So, the Hammers line up;

Green

Spector – Upson – Tomkins – Faubert

Diamanti – Kovac – Parker – Behrami

Cole  - Mido

Bench: Stetch, Stanislas, Collison, Da Costa, Mccarthy, Daprela and Ilan

Might seem harsh on Noble but we will already have two people who can do his job in the shape of Kovac and Parker.  The important option is impact players like Stanislas, Ilan and Mccarthy.

Prediction: as long as we remember to turn up and set off with a good rhythm, 3-1 to the Hammers with Cole getting one and Mccarthy settling nerves with a late double.  Come on you Irons!

I think I’ve used the term ‘must win’ a few times this season, but I see tomorrow night’s fixture against Birmingham as a definite must win for the Hammers.  And this time, there can be no excuses, with the new players we have settling in, the lads at home in front of the floodlights, it’s set up to send the midlanders home with nothing more than a few bruised shins.

David Sullivan has certainly expressed his desire to win, saying “I was at Birmingham City for years and it was great – but I really want to whack them”.  No ambiguity in that statement then!  But it would be great for the players to pay back some of the stability that Gold and Sullivan have given us by giving their old club a stuffing.

Birmingham have had a fantastic run of late, but watching them on Sunday against Wolves, you get the impression they are beatable.  For me, they are this season’s Everton, an average Premier League team who have been well organized and churning out a stable team that brings results.  As long as we keep our eye on Kevin Phillips for the whole game and stop them scoring, I think we can pip it.

My line up would be;

Green

Illunga – Upson – Tomkins – Spector

Stanislas – Parker – Behrami – Faubert

Cole – Mccarthy

Bench: Kurucz, Da Costa, Daprela, Noble, Mido, Ilan and Collison

This would give us some natural width with two decent target men up front we need to be getting some balls in the box.  It’s also a strong bench with impact players who can come on as well as some who can provide stability.

I’m feeling fairly good about the game and reckon we can pull away as 3-0 winners with Cole being the star of the show.  You can get 22/1 for that with Sky Bet plus a free £10 bet when you bet, so go for a double?  We really need this one to get out of the bottom 3 quagmire, I really hope the players are up for it, we’ve really got to get behind the lads, come on you Irons!!!

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.