A West Ham win at Old Trafford is a rare event, the last was in 2007 on the final day of the season when a certain Carlos Tevez scored the only goal for the Hammers, they survived but a legal battle began with Sheffield United over the Tevez and Mascherano 3rd party signing soon began.
The match see's Big Sam bring the Hammers to Old Trafford and there is optimism in both camps. West Ham will have big Andy Carroll upfront on loan from Liverpool and Kevin Nolan a constant thorn in United's sides when playing for Newcastle and Bolton. He did score a winning goal at Old Trafford whilst playing for Bolton. However, they will be missing there midfield player Mark Noble who has totted up to many yellows and is now banned.
For United, Anderson will start according to Sir Alex and it is fine reward for his performance against QPR where he upped the tempo and got United into a winning position. I would expect him to be flanked by ex-Hammer Michael Carrick who was rested in the weekend game. The wide position is up for debate but Valencia should start and Young may get a reprieve but the constant rumours of Nani going to Inter and United interested in Zaha at Crystal Palace, Young has got to up his game if he wants to be a regular and produce the goods he was at the beginning of last season.
The striking options will be RVP and Rooney. RVP had a relatively quiet game at the weekend compared to others this season. He still made contributions and was unlucky on a first half effort that hit the side netting. Rooney played very well at the weekend and had to play in a variety of positions to help United get the win. He had two assists and was a constant threat with his passing and a notable long range shot that warmed the QPR keepers hands. RVP linked very well with Fletcher and when Anderson came on, prior to that Welbeck and Young gave him little ammo, so hopefully that will change on Wednesday.
The goalkeeping department has seen Lindegaard start the last three games. He has done little wrong in those games although no clean sheets he has made telling saves and has exuded authority in the box by claiming crosses. I would expect to see Anders retain the shirt with the away game at the weekend at Reading we may need a big presence in the box for that game.
The defence will consist of Rafael, Evra at full backs and Evans along with another ex-Hammer Rio at centre half. Jonny Evans is certainly the leading centre half at the club and on Saturday he played very well in coping with Cisse and covering the full backs.
West Ham were promoted back into the premiership this season and have done very well so far but I would expect United to overcome the stubborn challenge and record a similar win to the QPR game.
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