Southampton match preview

WEST HAM UNITED V SOUTHAMPTON
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
SATURDAY 20 OCTOBER 2012
KICK-OFF: 3PM
REFEREE: NEIL SWARBRICK

FULL AUDIO AND TEXT COMMENTARY - WEST HAM TV

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Introduction

West Ham United face Southampton at the Boleyn Ground looking to bounce back to winning ways following their first home Barclays Premier League defeat last time out against Arsenal on 6 October.

• Going into the weekend, West Ham United sit in eighth on eleven points, while Southampton sit 17th on four points.

Southampton managed a 2-2 draw last time out against Fulham on 7 October, with central defender Jose Fonte scoring both goals, including a last-minute equaliser.

Andy Carroll is likely to start after returning to full fitness against QPR and Arsenal for West Ham United before featuring for England in their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiying win over San Marino on 12 October.

Southampton are yet to pick up any points on the road this season, having lost at Manchester City (2-3), Arsenal (1-6) and Everton (1-3). The Saints have let in more goals on their travels (12) than any other club in the Barclays Premier League.

West Ham United's top scorer this season is currently Kevin Nolan with three. Southampton's leading marksman is Rickie Lambert, who has scored four times.

The clubs met twice last season in the npower Championship. Southampton won the first meeting at St Mary's 1-0 in October 2011, with the reverse fixture at the Boleyn Ground in February this year ending 1-1. Both games were played on a Tuesday night and Jos Hooiveld scored in both fixtures for the Saints. Mark Noble's penalty was West Ham's sole strike against Southampton last term. 

West Ham United's clash with Southampton is one of eight Barclays Premier League fixtures being played on Saturday. The others are as follows (kick-off 3pm unless stated): Fulham v Aston Villa, Liverpool v Reading, Manchester United v Stoke City, Norwich City v Arsenal (5.30pm), Swansea City v Wigan Athletic, Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea (12.45pm) and West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City.


Last Time Out

Saturday 6 October 2012
Barclays Premier League
West Ham United 1-3 Arsenal
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Reid, McCartney, Collins, Demel (Tomkins 73), Nolan, Jarvis, Noble, Diame (Cole 82), Carroll, Vaz Te (Taylor 64).
Subs not used: Henderson, Benayoun, O'Neil, Maiga.
Goal: Diame 21

Sunday 7 October 2012
Barclays Premier League
Southampton 2-2 Fulham
Southampton: Gazzaniga, Yoshida, Fonte, Fox, Richardson (Hooiveld 8), Scneiderlin, S Davis, Lallana, Puncheon (Chaplow 61), Lambert (Guly 67), Rodriguez.
Subs not used: K Davis, Reeves, Ward-Prowse, Mayuka.
Goals: Fonte 4, 90


Previous meeting

The most-recent meeting between the two sides came on 14 February 2012 and ended in a 1-1 draw at the Boleyn Ground. West Ham United sat top of the npower Championship table, with the Saints just one point behind in second place. Eventual champions Reading were six points behind in sixth. Mark Noble opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 21 minutes, but not before Matt Taylor had been sent-off following an altercation with Billy Sharp in the lead-up to Noble's penalty. Despite West Ham being reduced to ten men, it took until 15 minutes from time before the Saints drew level when Jos Hooiveld poked home from close range to snatch a point.

West Ham United: Green, Reid, Tomkins, Faye, O'Brien, Faubert, Collison (McCartney 21), Taylor, Noble, Cole (Maynard 65), Vaz Te (O'Neil 71).
Subs not used: Lansbury, Baldock

Southampton: Davis, Richardson (Connolly 80), Fonte, Fox, Hooiveld, Schneiderlin, Cork, Guly (Puncheon 55), Lallana, Lambert, Sharp (Hammond 83).
Subs not used: Martin, Lee


Background

• Saints goalkeeper Kelvin Davis had a trial at West Ham United in summer 2010 but a move could not be agreed and he re-joined Southampton.

• Southampton full-back Frazer Richardson scored the only goal when Stoke City won 1-0 against West Ham United on 9 December 2003. He was on loan from Leeds United at the time.

West Ham United have been drawn to meet Southampton three times in the FA Cup - and have gone on to reach the final twice. The Hammers overcame the Saints after two replays in 1922/23, when they were beaten by Bolton Wanderers in the first-ever final at Wembley. In 1974/75, West Ham defeated Southampton 2-1 at The Dell in the third round.

The first-ever meeting between the two clubs at the Boleyn Ground was a Southern League Division One fixture at The Dell on 16 December 1899. Then known as Thames Ironworks FC, Ken McKay scored the visitors' goal in a 3-1 defeat.

The Hammers' most-recent league victory over Southampton took place exactly eleven years ago on 20 October 2001 when Frederic Kanoute scored both goals in a 2-0 Premier League win at the Boleyn Ground.

West Ham United and Southampton met 20 times in the Premier League between 1993 and 2003. The Hammers won eight times, Southampton six and there were six draws.

Southampton's best result at the Boleyn Ground was the 4-2 Premier League victory achieved over West Ham United on 25 April 1998.

The largest crowd to attend a West Ham United versus Southampton fixture was the 35,000 who were at the Division Two fixture at the Boleyn Ground on 13 November 1948. The match finished in a 1-1 draw.

West Ham United have beaten Southampton 4-0 at home on three occasions - their biggest victories over the Saints at the Boleyn Ground. All three were in the old Division Two. The first occasion was on 27 March 1937, with Len Goulden scoring twice. The second was on 12 April 1947, with Frank Neary netting a brace, while the third was on 19 April 1952, with Terry Woodgate getting two goals.


Last six meetings
(Barclays Premier League unless stated)

14 February 2012 - West Ham United 1-1 Southampton (Championship)
18 October 2011 - Southampton 1-0 West Ham United (Championship)
5 April 2003 - Southampton 1-1 West Ham United
2 December 2002 - West Ham United 0-1 Southampton
30 January 2002 - Southampton 2-0 West Ham United
20 October 2001 - West Ham United 2-0 Southampton

Overall record v Southampton (all competitions) W 36 D 27 L 30


Ten-year records

West Ham United

2011/12 Championship 3rd (promoted to Premier League via Play-Offs)
2010/11 Premier League 20th (relegated to Championship)
2009/10 Premier League 17th
2008/09 Premier League 9th
2007/08 Premier League 10th
2006/07 Premier League 15th
2005/06 Premier League 9th
2004/05 Championship 6th (promoted to Premier League via Play-Offs)
2003/04 Championship 4th
2002/03 Premier League 18th (relegated to Championship)

Southampton

2011/12 Championship 2nd (promoted to Premier League)
2010/11 League One 2nd (promoted to Championship)
2009/10 League One 7th
2008/09 Championship 23rd (relegated to League One)
2007/08 Championship 20th
2006/07 Championship 6th
2005/06 Championship 12th
2004/05 Premier League 20th (relegated to Championship)
2003/04 Premier League 12th
2002/03 Premier League 8th


Referee

The referee will be Neil Swarbrick.

Swarbrick began refereeing at the age of 29 and within six years he had been promoted to the National List of assistant referees in 2005.

Now 42, Swarbrick made his way up the leagues via the Football Conference and the npower Football League before receiving his first Barclays Premier League appointment on 11 December 2010. He was officially promoted to the Select Group of top-flight referees in June 2011.

So far this season Swarbrick has taken charge of six matches in all competitions, including two Barclays Premier League fixtures.

He has taken charge of three West Ham United fixtures in the past, the most recent being the 2-0 npower Championship Play-Off semi-final first-leg win at Cardiff City on 3 May 2012.

Swarbrick has been the man in the middle for five Southampton matches, the most recent being the 2-2 south coast npower Championship derby with Portsmouth at St Mary's on 7 April 2012.


Team News

• Ricardo Vaz Te is definitely out after undergoing surgery on a dislocated shoulder suffered in the 3-1 home Barclays Premier League defeat by Arsenal on 6 October. Yossi Benayoun, Matt Taylor or Gary O'Neil will deputise.

• Guy Demel (leg) and Winston Reid (back) are both facing races to be fit after being forced to miss out on international duty for Ivory Coast and New Zealand respectively. Joey O'Brien and James Tomkins are fit and standing by to come in, if required.

• France midfielder Alou Diarra continues to be sidelined by a thigh injury.

• Goalkeeper Stephen Henderson has joined npower Championship club  Ipswich Town on a three-month loan, meaning Raphael Spiegel will serve as Jussi Jaaskelainen's No2. Ravel Morrison is on a season-long loan at npower Championship club Birmingham City.

• For Southampton, record signing Gaston Ramirez is sidelined with a thigh injury the Uruguay midfielder suffered in training. England Under-21 and Team GB midfielder Jack Cork is also out with a leg injury. Right-back Nathaniel Clyne is expected to be fit after recovering from a leg injury that ruled him out of England Under-21's UEFA European Championship qualifier in Serbia in midweek.


Old Boys

West Ham United's all-time leading goalscorer Vic Watson moved to Southampton after 15 seasons as a Hammer in 1935. Watson would spend the 1935/36 season at The Dell, scoring 14 goals in 36 appearances to finish as the Saints' leading goalscorer in Division Two before retiring in summer 1936 at the age of 38.

• Among the other players to have played for both clubs are William Adams, Eyal Berkovic, Wayne Bridge, Henri Camara, Alistair Campbell, Frank Costello, Christian Dailly, Calum Davenport, Iain Dowie, Bob Fairman, Jack Foster, Horace Glover, Richard Hall, Jimmy Harris, Fred Harrison, Joe Kirkup, George Kitchen, Alex McDonald, Walter Pollard, Nigel Quashie, Albert Roles, Robbie Slater, David Speedie, Vic Watson, Arthur Wilson, Richard Wright.

General Information

• Standard tickets for the game against Southampton are now completely sold out.

There is significant disruption to public transport on Saturday. Please click here to see if these changes affect you.

The weather forecast for Saturday is partly cloudy with temperatures reaching a maximum of 16C (61F).


Welcome to our Sponsors

Saturday's Match Sponsors will be Channel Commercials PLC and Matchball Sponsors will be S.H.E Maritime Serivces Ltd.

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Channel Commercials is an established commercial vehicle and LCV dealer in Kent, providing sales, parts and servicing for DAF Trucks and Nissan vans.
Alongside new and used trucks, vans and buses, Channel Commercials provides an impressive portfolio of additional products and services, including a fully-equipped paint and body shop where accident repair, shot blasting and signwriting are carried out, as well as a specialist engineering and fabrication department which specialises in commercial vehicle modification, welding and rail wagon maintenance. As a leading commercial vehicle dealer in Kent, Channel Commercials also has factory-trained technicians at four locations (Ashford, Strood, Sevenoaks and Canterbury) who are able to offer 24-hour servicing for commercial vehicles. For full details, click here.

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S.H.E Maritime Serivces Ltd is a non-vessel operating carrier (NVOCC) with partners throughout the world. S.H.E Maritime Serivces Ltd's core business is the handling of less than container load (LCL) and full container load (FCL) cargo to and from numerous worldwide locations. A complete summary of the import and export services we operate can be found online here.