This weekend West Ham United will host Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup that will be played this weekend. The game is scheduled to be played at Upton Park on January 5, 2013 at 1715 GMT.
This period of the year sees teams play a lot of football and this year, over the first weekend teams will play Cup Football. This stage is the, ‘Third Round Proper’ of the competition where teams from the Premier League enter the race to battle with the teams that have qualified for this round.
Manchester United has had a very good two months of football. They are sitting pretty, as they are seven points clear at top of the Premier League and will be looking to take that form into the knockout competition.
Due to the hectic schedule we could see both the managers rest some of their star players for this game.
Manchester United will see Wayne Rooney, Phil Jones, Anderson and Nani are all set to miss out on this game due to injury. Robin van Persie and Ashley Young may be rested making way for Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck to make starts. Shinji Kagawa may make a small appearance so as to get some game time before the big clash against arch rivals Liverpool later in the month.
West Ham United has re-signed Joe Cole from Liverpool, who will be eligible to make an appearance in this game after all the transfer formalities are over. He will add quite a bit of depth and creativity to the West Ham midfield. The Hammers will see Andy Carroll, Diame and McCartney miss out due to injury.
Matt Jarvis is playing a new role as a central midfielder and this game could be perfect for Sam Allardyce to rotate his squad. West Ham has hit a wall form wise as they have managed to win only two of their last six games, drawing one and losing the rest.
These two teams are one of the few that are drawn against Premier League teams in their first round itself and a loss in this game for either team will see them get eliminated from the competition.
Prediction: West Ham 1-3 Manchester United