Blast from the past
In today’s preview, we travel back the very short distance to 12th January 2016: Justin Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself’ topped the charts; Star Wars: The Force Awakens was in UK cinemas; David Bowie had died two days previously with Alan Rickman to pass away two days later; and West Ham United beat Bournemouth away from home for the first time ever.
Super Slav’s Hammers picked up a 3-1 win in front of 11,071 spectators for a Tuesday night encounter at the Vitality Stadium. Andy Carroll was forced off through injury after just 15 minutes, with Nikica Jelavic entering the fray in his stead. Within two minutes of the switch, the Irons were behind when Cherries midfielder Harry Arter, former Hammer Scott Parker’s brother-in-law, fired home from 25 yards to give his side their first goal in four league games. The hosts’ new signing, striker Benik Afobe, squandered two glorious chances to extend Bournemouth’s lead, heading over from six yards and being denied by Adrian after hesitating when clean through on goal.
West Ham were much improved after the break and the equaliser arrived with 23 minutes left to play, a sublime free-kick from Frenchman Dimitri Payet, making his first start in over two months after recovering from an ankle injury. Just seven minutes later, the visitors were in front – substitute Carl Jenkinson’s quick throw-in found Payet who squirmed between two defenders before cutting back for Enner Valencia to slam the ball home. The Ecuadorian claimed his second in the 84th minute, cracking a stunning free-kick over the wall and beating Artur Boruc at his near post to claim his first Hammers brace.
The victory equalled a club-record eighth match unbeaten in the Premier League and took West Ham above Manchester United and into fifth, within a point of Tottenham in the final Champions League position. The Hammers would end the 2015/16 campaign in seventh place in the Premier League, while Bournemouth would finish 16th. Leicester won the Premier League, Manchester United won the FA Cup and Payet was named Hammer of the Year, with Michail Antonio runner-up.
Bournemouth: Artur Boruc, Adam Smith, Simon Francis, Steve Cook, Charlie Daniels, Dan Gosling, Andrew Surman, Harry Arter (Glenn Murray), Matt Ritchie (Juan Iturbe), Junior Stanislas, Benik Afobe (Lewis Grabban).
West Ham United: Adrian, James Tomkins (Carl Jenkinson), James Collins, Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell, Pedro Obiang, Mark Noble, Michail Antonio, Dimitri Payet (Alex Song), Enner Valencia, Andy Carroll (Nikica Jelavic).
Club Connections
A decent number of players have turned out for both West Ham United and Bournemouth. Hammers Academy product Junior Stanislas is currently on Bournemouth’s books while Carl Fletcher played for both clubs and is currently youth team manager with the Cherries. Ex-Bournemouth midfielder Paul Mitchell, who made one league appearance for the Hammers in 1994, is back with the Cherries as a correspondent for Opta Sports. Other players to have appeared for both clubs include:
Goalkeepers: Stephen Henderson and Marek Stech.
Defenders: Everald La Ronde, Rio Ferdinand, Keith Rowland, Elliott Ward and Bobby Howe.
Midfielders: Ian Bishop, Trevor Hartley, Bobby Barnes, Tommy Southren, Jimmy Neighbour, Emmanuel Omoyinmi, Tony Scott, Anthony Edgar, Scott Mean, Matty Holmes, Dale Gordon, Jack Collison and Patsy Holland.
Strikers: Jermain Defoe, Nicky Morgan, Mark Watson, Zavon Hines, Steve Jones, Ted MacDougall.
Former Hammers player John Bond went on to manage Bournemouth, Jimmy Quinn played for both clubs and also managed the Cherries, while Harry Redknapp played for West Ham and Bournemouth and also went on to manage both clubs.
Today’s preview focuses on a former England goalkeeper who spent two and a half years with West Ham United before ending his career in the English game with Bournemouth. David James was born in Welwyn Garden City on 1st August 1970 and grew up as a Luton supporter. He signed for Watford though and, after helping the Hornets win the FA Youth Cup, made his full debut in August 1990 at the age of 20. He earned 10 caps for England Under-21s before moving to Liverpool in the summer of 1992. He won the League Cup in 1995 and received an FA Cup runners-up medal the following year before making his England debut in March 1997. He signed for Aston Villa in the summer of 1999 and was once again on the losing side in an FA Cup Final, this time in 2000, the last Final to be played at the old Wembley.
James signed for Glenn Roeder’s West Ham United in July 2001 for £3.5m but a serious knee injury picked up in a collision with Martin Keown whilst playing for England against the Netherlands at White Hart Lane would keep him out until late autumn. The 31-year-old finally made his Hammers debut in a 1-0 home defeat to Tottenham on 24th November 2001 – he went on to keep ten clean sheets in 29 appearances in his first season, a campaign which saw no other Premier League team win more matches at home than the Hammers. The club finished seventh but were to nosedive the following season, culminating in relegation. James was an ever-present in 2002/03, keeping nine clean sheets in 42 appearances during a season in which he became England’s first-choice goalkeeper, replacing David Seaman.
James remained with the club for the first half of the First Division campaign of 2003/04, seeing many of his team-mates depart in a fire sale and playing under three managers – Roeder, caretaker boss Trevor Brooking and Alan Pardew – as the Hammers adjusted to life in the second tier. ‘Jamo’ kept ten clean sheets in 31 games before returning to the Premier League with Manchester City in a £2m deal in January 2004. He had made 102 appearances for West Ham in all competitions, his final match being a 2-1 home defeat to Preston on 10th January 2004. James had retained his position as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England number one but his return to the top flight all but secured his place as England’s goalkeeper at the upcoming Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal.
After two and a half years with City, James returned south to join Portsmouth in the summer of 2006. While with Pompey, he broke the Premier League record for clean sheets and consecutive appearances. He stands fourth in the all-time Premier League appearances list with 572 games played – only Ryan Giggs, Gareth Barry and ex-Hammer Frank Lampard have played more. James moved to Bristol City in the summer of 2010 having captained Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final, James again picking up a runners-up medal after defeat at Wembley to Chelsea. The goalkeeper also played three of England’s four matches at the 2010 World Cup, having lost his place to Paul Robinson during qualification for the 2006 World Cup – former Hammer James replaced then-Hammers custodian Rob Green in the tournament held in South Africa after Green’s unfortunate error against the USA.
The 42-year-old James was released by Bristol City in the summer of 2012 and signed for Bournemouth in September of that year. He made his debut in a 2-1 home defeat to Walsall on 29th September 2012 and made 19 appearances, keeping six clean sheets, for the Cherries in League One before departing in March 2013. His final appearance for Bournemouth, and in English football, was also against Walsall in a 3-1 defeat at the Bescot Stadium on 19th January 2013.
James went on to play in Iceland for IBV, teaming up with former team-mate Hermann Hreidarsson in order to gain coaching experience. James was also player-manager of Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters, owned by Sachin Tendulkar, in 2014, helping the side to runners-up position in the inaugural campaign of the ISL. James played 956 matches during his career and, now 46, he is a regular pundit on BT Sports.
Referee
The referee on Saturday will be Bobby Madley. The Yorkshire-based official will take charge of a West Ham game for the sixth time in the Premier League, having also refereed our 2-1 victory at Manchester City in September 2015 and our 2-0 home win over Liverpool in January 2016.
Madley’s most controversial appointment with the Irons saw him award Chelsea a last-minute penalty at Stamford Bridge last season which saw Chelsea salvage a 2-2 draw – replays showed that Michail Antonio’s foul on Reuben Loftus-Cheek had occurred outside the penalty area. The 31-year-old’s most recent Hammers matches have both been 1-0 home wins, against Sunderland in October and Burnley in December.
Possible line-ups
Bournemouth will be without the suspended Tyrone Mings and Andrew Surman, as well as the injured Adam Federici and Callum Wilson. Captain Simon Francis and former Hammer Junior Stanislas are both doubts. Hammers fan Jack Wilshere, on loan from Arsenal, could come into the side.
This weekend’s match will be only the third time Bournemouth and West Ham United have met on the south coast for a league fixture and the first time ever on a Saturday – the Hammers’ only win away to the Cherries, in 2016, is detailed above. Slaven Bilic continues to be without Angelo Ogbonna, Gokhan Tore and Diafra Sakho but is hopeful Jose Fonte, Winston Reid, Robert Snodgrass and Andy Carroll will all be available after picking up knocks in Monday’s defeat to Chelsea. Andre Ayew has one goal and one assist from his last two substitute appearances and is pushing the recently below-par Snodgrass for a starting spot. Michail Antonio returns from suspension. The Hammers are unbeaten in their last three away games.
Possible Bournemouth XI: Boruc; Smith, Francis, Cook, Daniels; Wilshere, Arter; Ibe, King, Gradel; Afobe.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Kouyate, Fonte, Reid, Cresswell; Obiang, Noble; Antonio, Ayew, Lanzini; Carroll.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!