west ham team news

Last weekend's FA Cup tie against Leeds United was essentially a dress rehearsal for this afternoon's Premier League clash, some will say this game is FAR more important than last weekend's cup tie. FA Cup competition supporters will not be pleased to hear that, it is indeed rather sad that a competition that once lit up the calendar has now by and large been sidelined, gone are the days when supporters who didn't have tickets to the final would sit for hours ahead of the game, glued to their TV screens in anticipation of the main event.

Those bastions of sports coverage integrity, the Express and the Sunday Express, have an uncanny knack of acting like a reportage echo. Someone prints something and then the article, with a bit of editing, magically re-appears, and it is in the case regarding Chelsea's Tammy Abraham.

There has been plenty of debate regarding the Irons ability to cope without Declan Rice for what might be the rest of the season, although fears of his lay off have been slightly tempered by his social media interaction showing him 'embracing' his rehabilitation at the club's 'goose green' training facility.