West Ham United are making the most of a rare weekend off from Barclays Premier League action to prepare for Tuesday night's home fixture against Portsmouth.
In contrast, the midweek visitors to the Boleyn Ground were in FA Cup semi-final action against West Bromwich Albion at Wembley, although former United forward Jermain Defoe is cup-tied and did not play in the 1-0 win. A number of the club's injury concerns appear to have eased in the past week since the 2-1 defeat at Sunderland when Alan Curbishley saw several players pick up knocks to go with those already sidelined. In particular, Freddie Sears (groin) and Bobby Zamora (foot) did not make the trip to the Stadium of Light but both have been training and are due to return.
Defensive duo George McCartney (hamstring) and John Pantsil (concussion) came off during the match but have also been back in action this week and are similarly in contention to face Portsmouth. Matthew Upson has not played since suffering a calf strain at Liverpool on 5 March, having been an ever-present until then, but could possibly be involved. Freddie Ljungberg sat out last week with the hamstring injury he picked up in the north-east but has had treatment and a positive scan. He could return to training next week.