Steve Lomas is included in the reserve team's trip to Derby
County on Tueday night - but the match has come too early for Don
Hutchison and Fredi Kanoute.
That suggests the pair are unlikely to figure in the trip to Old Trafford on Saturday - a match in which Sir Alex Ferguson says Rio Ferdinand and David Beckhan could return.
Defender Izzie Iriekpen returns to a reasonably young side after his sojourn on loan at Leyton Orient.
Hammers: Van der Gouw, Laws, Byrne, Rahim, Ferdinand, Iriekpen, Sofiane, Lomas, Mehmet, Camara, McMahon. Subs: Lumsden, Bywater, M.Cole, Tattam, Eastwood.
Derby County (from): Oakes, Mills, Molloy, Evatt, Jackson, Murray, Valakari, Bolder, Kinkladze, McLeod, Tudgay, O'Halloran, Weckstrom, C Turner, Camp.