Preview - Burnley vs. West Ham (League Cup)

As I predicted, it was an even game against Swansea, a draw, no goals, a stalemate. Once again our solid defensive work is making up for our severe lack-luster front line, and now, we've lost Vaz Te as well. Fingers crossed we will have just about enough to take us through another round tonight.

We  avoided the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City in the fourth-round draw but a trip to Turf Moor will not be as easy as paper would suggest. Burnley are currently flying high at the top of the Sky Bet Championship and are yet to lose on their own patch this season.

There’s no doubt about it, Burnley are on a roll and it would come as no surprise to anyone if they turned us over tonight. They beat QPR on Saturday and lead the Championship by five points, which at this stage of the season is quite an achievement.

The man to watch is Danny Ings, West Ham's defense will have to be on top form to keep the young Burnley striker quiet tonight.

West Ham will be without Ricardo Vaz Te after the Portuguese striker suffered a dislocated shoulder at Swansea on Sunday.

He joins Andy Carroll, Alou Diara and James Collins on the sidelines.

Carlton Cole could start in attack for the first time since he re-signed for the Hammers while fringe players Matt Taylor, George McCartney, Leo Chambers and Jack Collison - who has returned from a loan spell at Bournemouth - will also be in contention.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche will hand late fitness tests to midfield duo Scott Arfield and Dean Marney ahead of tonight's Capital One Cup clash.

Marney was taken off in the closing stages of Saturday's 2-0 victory over QPR after sustaining injury, while Arfield missed the clash altogether with a groin problem. Both players will be monitored ahead of kick-off.

Meanwhile, fellow midfielder David Jones picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign on Saturday and will serve a one-match ban while former Hammers man Junior Stanislas is in contention to be brought into the side to face his old club. 

It’s the battle of the claret and blues at Turf Moor.

I predict a 2-1 win taking us into the quarters, but it will come in extra time.

COYI

Preview - Swansea vs. West Ham

After a fantastic result vs Tottenham I was thoroughly hoping for an even better one against Man City; sadly this was not to be. It wasn't a bad performance but it was a true display of how different the class is at the top. It wasn't a bad performance from West Ham but it was far from vintage.

Swansea come into this game on the back of a bitterly disappointing late draw in the Europa League.

Three points will be welcomed by both teams at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday as Swansea take on West Ham, with just five league wins shared between the clubs so far this season. Last week’s 4-0 win over Sunderland was the Swans first home win in the Premier League in nine games. Swans are unbeaten in Europe but is that coming at a cost domestically? West Ham will be hoping that is the case.

West Ham’s high from beating Tottenham impressively did not last as long as Sam Allardyce would have liked. A humbling defeat at home to Manchester City will have brought fans back down to earth, and the game also highlighted their main weakness this season once more. With the club boasting the worst shooting accuracy in the league, 29.6%, posing a goal threat has been a serious issue for the Hammers. The likes of Miaga, Vaz Te and Petric haven’t filled the void of Andy Carroll, and the longer the problem goes on the more it will affect the players, who may start to a look around and question themselves who can score goals for them.

Ashley Williams will be a last minute decision after missing the last five weeks with an ankle problem. Ben Davies also has an ankle injury and will definitely sit out the clash, but Pablo Hernandez may finally be ready to feature after overcoming his hamstring problem.

Allardyce may name an unchanged side for the trip to Wales on Sunday. Carlton Cole is not yet fit enough to play, while Andy Carroll, James Collins, Alou Diarra and George McCartney are still out.

I've gone for a draw in my accumulator and I'll stick with that here. 0-0, 1-1 there wont be many goals in this one.

COYI. 

Preview - West Ham vs. Man City

Who would of predicted an away 3-0 win at White Heart Lane? Certainly not me, who opted for a 3-0 loss in my prediction. Maybe I should predict us to lose more often. A memorable victory, a fantastic result and how about Ravel Morrison's goal.

Manuel Pellegrini will be only too aware of the immediate need to start taking maximum points on the road, if Manchester City are to live up to their title contender tag, and unfortunately for them, Upton Park is becoming a fortress

Coming off the back of an international break and with the crucial midweek Champions League encounter against CSKA Moscow lurking, this fixture poses a tricky selection dilemma for Manuel Pellegrini. Does he try to arrest City’s bleak run of results away from home or will the temptation to rotate prove too strong to ignore?

Man City's obvious threat comes in the shape of Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure, both of which might prove to have too much for West Ham to contain. The absence of captain Kompany is a real bonus for West Ham and if we can push and press Lescott then we can cause real trouble.

In the absence of Andy Carroll, home hopes will naturally centre around the bristling talent of Ravel Morrison in the West Ham midfield, and he's sure to have an influence after scoring both for West Ham and England under 21's recently.

West Ham defender James Collins will miss the visit of Manchester City on Saturday evening after suffering an injury on international duty.

The 30-year-old was replaced just before the hour in Wales' 1-1 draw with Belgium in midweek and Hammers boss Sam Allardyce confirmed he has a hamstring injury.

He joins Andy Carroll and Alou Diarra on the sidelines whilst Carlton Cole, who rejoined the club on a short-term deal last week, is not fit enough to be involved.

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has been ruled out of Saturday's Barclays Premier League trip, while fellow centre-back Martin Demichelis, who is still to make his debut, is also not yet fit.

Midfielder Jack Rodwell is back in contention after a recent spell on the sidelines.

After a great result against Spurs and a City side struggling away I'm going to predict a 1-1 draw.

Kick off is at 17:30 this week.

COYI

Preview - Tottenham vs. West Ham

Last weeks result against lowly Hull is a season low, and it can't get much worse. Again us fans can feel robbed, another bit of bad luck has cost us. A poor referee has stolen any points from us. 

After last week’s disappointing result at Hull City, what better way to pick ourselves up than a London derby with Spurs.

We now have a tough few fixtures ahead of us and I without Carroll we're going to be in real trouble.

If it wasn’t for Gareth Bale’s left foot, we probably would have taken three points from Spurs last season. There we were, wishing that Gareth Bale wasn’t as good as he was and, if all else failed, that he didn’t play for Tottenham.

Well, we got our wish, but at the expense of them spending the £80million Real Madrid paid for him on a group of players that, arguably, make them a lot stronger this time around.

One positive we can touch upon, though, is our shrinking injury list. Stewart Downing and Joe Cole are back fit and raring to go, leaving just Alou Diarra and Andy Carroll as our only remaining long-term absentees.

So what can we expect on Sunday afternoon? It’s certainly going to be a long 90 minutes for us if you go buy the current form of both sides, but you can expect the players to give everything they’ve got. Although, on recent evidence, that probably won’t be much. Don’t get me wrong but, if we can’t score away to Hull City, what chance do we have of scoring away to Spurs.

It is to be hoped that the headlines are driven by what happens on the field, rather than off it where it is to be expected that Tottenham's fans will sing what they want.

Only Olivier Giroud and John Terry have scored against them in 11 games so far. West Ham need a tonic after a poor spell. 

Younes Kaboul will miss out after picking up a knee injury in Spurs’ Europa League win over Anzhi on Thursday night.

Danny Rose, Aaron Lennon and Etienne Capoue are not expected to return until after the international break.

Jermain Defoe’s goal scoring form in the Europa League may go unnoticed, though, with Roberto Soldado expected to get the nod up front.

Each week we have all hoped he would try someone else in place of Modibo Maiga but he has started with him each time. Goals continue to be our problem and, once again, we need to hold our fire until we see or hear the starting line-up. My guess is it will be the same starting XI that played Hull and, if that’s the way it’s going to be, positive predictions are hard to come by.

I'll predict a 3-0 loss, it's not going to be a nice afternoon.

COYI