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Somewhere tucked away in Portugal's sunny Algarve there lies a little known private and exclusive 'Holiday Village, our Portugese writer Rodrigo Perreira takes up the story.

West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Fornals, Haller. Subs: Randolph, Diop, Johnson, Noble, Snodgrass, Lanzini, Benrahma.
Man Utd: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Telles, McTominay, Pogba, Greenwood, Van de Beek, Martial, Cavani. Subs: Grant, Tuanzebe, Williams, Matic, Mata, Fernandes, Rashford.

This Saturday's Barclays Premier League fixture between West Ham and Man Utd will be the first to actually feature fans, albeit a microscopic 2,000 instead of the 60,000 the London Stadium is capable of holding. The visitors are on a fine run of form, as are their hosts, so it virtually inconceivable that the match will finish as a 0-0 draw.

Perhaps we at the Org are getting old, but when Jack 'I can drive my Range Rooney Up Other People's exhausts' Grealish did a 'Salaesque' pirouette almost half a second after having been tackled in order to 'earn' his team a free kick from which they eventually scored, opinions about Villa's star man varied from preening ballerina to a lot worse.

West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Antonio, Fornals Subs: Randolph, Benrahma, Lanzini, Noble, Diop, Johnson, Haller
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz, McGinn, Trezeguet, Hourihane, Grealish, Watkins Subs: Steer, Taylor, Traore, Nakamba, El Ghazi, Elmohamady, Ramsey

Suggestions West Ham United will return with a substantial bid for Burnley's James Tarkowski are wide of the mark, since a purported move to the London Stadium didn't materialse during the last transfer window, the England midfielders form has dropped off a cliff. In and out of one of the Barclays Premier League's relegation candidates team, ostensibly through 'niggles' picked up in training, Tarkowski's stock has plummeted.

The long awaited return of fans to stadiums has been confirmed, albeit with a severe caveat! Fans can return to matches in extremely limited numbers after lockdown 2:0 ends on December the 2nd. Arsenal will be the first Premier League team to welcome back fans for their Europa League tie with Rapid Vienna next Thursday while West Ham will be the first to have fans at a Barclays Premier League game when they entertain Manchester United on December the 5th.

The December list of televised games has just been released, and it appears those with an Amazon Prime membership will be quids in! Two of West Ham United's fixtures in December are being broadcast on Amazon Prime, which will come as a welcome relief to those who cannot stand the sound of Alan Smith's voice, and to a lesser extent the patronising tones of Glen Hoddle.

West Ham United face a hectic schedule in December as they strive to maintain a top 10 place in the Premier League this season.

Having seen his team perform well, if not spectacularly, in the absence of 'star' forward Michail Antonio, Hammers manager David Moyes is only too aware that the season is not yet a quarter through, and that a long hard winter of congestive fixtures awaits.