West Ham Fans

West Ham United's Press office are unwilling to confirm or deny what many will see as the beginning of an exodus from the Boleyn with the news that Scott Parker has agreed personal terms that will seal a move to Manchester City within the next 48 hrs.

West Ham United's convincing yet hard fought 3-0 victory over Barnsley in the 3rd round of the FA Cup may have unearthed more questions than answers.

West Ham take on Barnsley for this afternoon's 3rd round FA Cup tie without the services of Lucas Neill who is still troubled by an ankle injury but ominously without Mathew Upson, flu anyone?

As if in anticipation of the inevitable impending departure of several 'established' players, Gianfranco Zola looks likely to pick a new look West Ham team to face Barnsley in the 3rd round of the FA Cup at the Boleyn.

Like it or loathe it, the transfer window approaches with the inevitability of a car crash in slow motion that is about to impact. To continue the analogy Mark Hughes and Manchester City are the people in the big 4x4 while Gianfranco Zola has been left with a G Wiz, no contest!

No Craig Bellamy today, perhaps an unwelcome portent of the future given the amount of press speculation about his potential sale.

As this is the time of over indulgence here is the over indulgent text of the game at Fratton Park.

West Ham take the field at Fratton Park to play Portsmouth with the same line up that played so well but ultimately floundered at the Boleyn against Aston Villa.

Hammers start with the same line up that performed so well against Chelsea at the Bridge last week. West Ham 01 Green 02 Neill 27 Davenport 15 Upson 03 Ilunga 31 Collison 16 Noble 08 Parker 21 Behrami 10 Bellamy 12 Cole Substitutes 24 Lastuvka, 13 Boa Morte, 17 Mullins, 20 Faubert, 25 Tristan, 29 Bowyer, 32 Di Michele.... Aston Villa 01 Friedel 24 Cuellar 15 Davies 05 Laursen 02 Young 19 Petrov 08 Milner 04 Sidwell 06 Barry 07 Young 11 Agbonlahor Substitutes 22 Guzan, 09 Harewood, 14 Delfouneso, 16 Knight, 20 Reo-Coker, 21 Shorey, 26 Gardner Ref: Mark Halsey

Having shored up the Hammers defence, at least away from home, Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke have now to meet the challenge of keeping things tight at the back but also scoring more goals. Perhaps they will choose West Ham to play 4-3-3 against the Villa

Direct quotes are rarely reported correctly, but Messy Deco and Ballack were rubbish is a direct quote from a long standing typical Chelsea supporter following West Ham United's hard earned draw at the Bridge.

Call him brave or foolish, but Gianfranco Zola has decided to drop three of the starting line up from monday's team that faced Tottenham. For his return to Chelsea Zola has selected to play this West Ham team: Green, Neill, Davenport, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami, Parker, Collison, Noble, Cole, Bellamy.

Lambs to the slaughter or marauding swashbucklers who ram raid the Bridge, which West Ham will show up? It is ironic that the sale of the battering ram that was Marlon Harewood is coming back to haunt the Hammers, throw in the sale of Bobby Zamora and the perennial injury to Dean Ashton and you are well on the way to a recipe for disaster!

On his return to Stamford Bridge Gianfranco can expect little Christmas cheer from his former employers, idolised by the Chelsea faithful he now has a mission, some say an mission impossible as manager of West Ham United.

Something very strange happened on Monday, Liverpool played a match that they were expected to win but only ended up with a draw. Nothing really strange about that, bearing in mind recent results against Fulham and Hull

This is how the teams line up for Liverpool against West Ham at Anfield.

Liverpool have never been a club that West Ham get the rub of the green against, so on the face of it tonight's visit to Anfield shouldn't auger too well.

In a flurry of activity Gianfranco Zola has set about bringing his squad size down to a manageable level while at the same time helping many of his younger players gain valuable first team experience. Jimmy Walker has just been loaned out to Colchester United until January, James Tomkins has gone on loan to Derby County while Junior Stanislas has gone to Southend and Kyle Reid has gone to Blackpool. Hammers have also loaned Josh Payne to Cheltenham Town, Nigel Quashie to Birmingham City, Bondz N'Galato to the MK Dons and Jordan Spence to Leyton Orient.

So the seekers of truth and justice Sheffield United have managed to get some old soak to grant them an injunction to stop West Ham appealing to the Court of Arbitration in Geneva.

Anton Ferdinand will feature for Sunderland against West Ham hoping to put one over his old club, 'Linda' McCartney is out injured! Gianfranco Zola has selected the strongest team available to him, they are going to need it on a windswept and freezing afternoon oop north.