By Aston
September 17 2004

Ipswich Town will be hoping for a return to winning ways and possibly top of the championship with a win at Upton Park.

West Ham: Preview

Ipswich Town will be hoping for a return to winning ways and possibly top of the championship with a win at Upton Park.

Ipswich manager Joe Royle has a only one player unavailable for Saturdays game, Scott Barron missing with a minor groin injury.

Speaking ahead of the game Royle has said: “West Ham will be there or thereabouts.

“They have the financial clout to bring in new players and have just signed Malky Mackay from Norwich and brought in Calum Davenport from Tottenham on loan.

“They had Sergei Rebrov on the bench in midweek and Bobby Zamora is to come back from injury so they have plenty of options in their squad.

“And they have Teddy Sheringham up front and he's still a terrific footballer.

“Given the quality they have and the size of their squad, I have no doubts they will be in there at the end of the season.

“So we know it will be a tough game for us on Saturday but we are looking to get back on track after the defeat at Stoke and we won there in the League last season so let's hope it's a double.”.

Ipswich Town Squad: Darren Bent, Dean Bowditch, Pablo Couñago, Kelvin Davis, Drissa Diallo, Jason De Vos, Tony Dinning, Kevin Horlock, Shefki Kuqi, Jim Magilton, Tommy Miller, Scott Mitchell, Richard Naylor, Lewis Price, Matt Richards, Ian Westlake, Fabian Wilnis.

Hammers boss Alan Pardew has two doubts ahead of the game, Steve Lomas and Bobby Zamora have both been missing due to injury but did manage to play for the reserves in midweek but Pardew doubts either will play, saying: “I don't think Bobby and Steve will be involved because they still have a bit of fitness to get into their bodies - but they both came through the reserve game in the week and they both probably feature next week at some point.”.

About the game tomorrow Pardew has said: “It is a good game for the fans because both of us play a flowing sort of game and want to win it; we don't try to restrict each other's play and that makes for a good contest.

“I like Joe's philosophy - they give you problems with their movement and that always makes for a good match.

“We had two cracking games with Ipswich in the playoffs and they were both very close.

“We are hoping we can get the same sort of magical atmosphere we had for the home playoff game and that will help us.

“The occasion made it special but sometimes you don't perform on the big occasion - as we found out in the final.

“Sometimes you have to accept that and not worry too much about it, by which I mean it won't be the end of the world if we get beaten.”.

We couldn’t let this preview go with out a few words from former Norwich defender Malky Mackay, West Ham’s new signing has said: “Ipswich are a good passing team and that will be tough but we are coming off the back of two wins and we have the chance to get into the top area and the boys are looking forward to it.”.

West Ham Squad: Bywater, Walker, Powell, Brevett, Repka, Davenport, Mackay, Chadwick, Reo-Coker, Rebrov, Fletcher, Cohen, Lomas, Mullins, Etherington, Nowland, Harewood, Sheringham, Zamora.

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