Blast from the past
West Ham United have met Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup on five previous occasions. The first of these meetings was also in the third round in east London in front of 20,510 on the 11th October 1967, two days after the execution of Che Guevara. The Bee Gees were number one with ‘Massachusetts’ and Richard Burton was in UK cinemas in Doctor Faustus as the First Division Hammers emerged victorious against Bill Ridding’s Second Division Trotters with a 4-1 win – England striker Geoff Hurst (pictured below) bagged all four goals for the hosts at the Boleyn Ground.
Ron Greenwood’s Hammers progressed to the fourth round, where they were knocked out by Second Division Huddersfield, losing 2-0 at Leeds Road. Leeds United would win the 1968 League Cup, beating Arsenal 1-0 in the Final courtesy of a Terry Cooper goal. Bobby Moore was voted Hammer of the Year, with Trevor Brooking runner-up.
West Ham United: Bobby Ferguson, Billy Bonds, John Cushley, Bobby Moore, John Charles, Harry Redknapp, Ronnie Boyce, Martin Peters, John Sissons, Peter Brabrook, Geoff Hurst.
Aside from this third round victory in 1967, West Ham’s remaining League Cup record against Bolton is as follows:
1968 – West Ham 7-2 Bolton (2nd round)
1994 – West Ham 1-3 Bolton (4th round)
2005 – Bolton 1-0 West Ham (3rd round)
2009 – Bolton 3-1 West Ham (3rd round, after extra-time)
Club Connections
Reece Burke and Josh Cullen are currently on loan at Bolton from West Ham. Joey O’Brien has also played for both clubs and is currently training with Wanderers in the hope of landing a permanent deal after being released by the Hammers 15 months ago – O’Brien played for Bolton’s Under-23 side against Bristol City last night. Others who have turned out for West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers include:
Goalkeepers – Steve Banks, Joseph Hughes, Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Defenders – Abdoulaye Faye, George Kay, Tyrone Mears, Harry Kinsell, Archie Taylor, Tommy McAteer, George Eccles.
Midfielders – Robert Hall, Kevin Nolan, Nigel Reo-Coker, Franz Carr, Matthew Taylor.
Strikers – David Cross, Les Ferdinand, Ricardo Vaz Te, Billy Yenson, Bill Joyce.
Sam Allardyce played for and managed Bolton before managing West Ham.
Today’s focus though is on an Israeli international who excelled with the Trotters before spending a loan spell with the Hammers. Tal Ben Haim was born on 31st March 1982 in Rishon LeZion and began his career with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2001, winning a league title in 2003 and being named club captain before moving to Sam Allardyce’s Bolton at the age of 22 for £150,000 in the summer of 2004.
Ben Haim made 27 appearances in his first season with Wanderers and scored his only goal for the club in a 3-1 win over Tottenham on 1st February 2005. Ben Haim attracted interest from West Ham, Tottenham, Chelsea and Allardyce’s new club Newcastle in 2007 – he moved to Stamford Bridge in the summer of that year on a Bosman free transfer. Ben Haim had scored one goal in 88 appearances for the Trotters.
The centre-back spent one season in west London before moving to Manchester City for £5m the following summer – he spent the second half of his only season with the Sky Blues on loan at Sunderland. After just one season on City’s books, Ben Haim was on the move again, this time to Portsmouth on Summer Transfer Deadline Day 2009. Again, just a year later, relegated Pompey’s administrator Andrew Andronikou wanted Ben Haim’s crippling salary off the club’s wage bill – the Israeli teamed up with former Chelsea and Portsmouth boss Avram Grant at West Ham in a loan deal with a view to a permanent move.
The 28-year-old Ben Haim made his Hammers debut in a 1-0 League Cup second round win over Oxford at the Boleyn Ground on 24th August 2010. He made eight Premier League and four League Cup appearances for the Irons, including the famous 4-0 quarter-final victory over Manchester United (in which Ben Haim is pictured above). Ben Haim played across the back four during his time in east London and appeared in a 3-1 Boxing Day win at Fulham and set up Freddie Sears’ goal in a 2-0 New Year’s Day win over Wolves at Upton Park. His final appearance in claret and blue came in a 5-0 defeat at Newcastle on 5th January 2011 – after 12 appearances for the club, he returned to Fratton Park.
Ben Haim has since had spells at QPR, Standard Liege in Belgium and Charlton. Now 35, he is back where his career started at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Ben Haim has also won 92 international caps for Israel, scoring two goals.
Referee
Tuesday’s referee will be Wiltshire-based Simon Hooper, who will take on his second ever Hammers appointment – his only other match involving West Ham was the 1-0 home win over Coventry in January 2012.
Hooper has refereed eight matches so far in 2017/18 – six in the Championship and two in the League Cup. He has dished out 21 yellow cards and one red card in those eight games and awarded two penalties.
Possible line-ups
West Ham United have James Collins, Edimilson Fernandes and Manuel Lanzini on the injury list. Mark Noble is available again, while youngsters Declan Rice, Domingos Quina, Sead Haksabanovic and Nathan Holland are all in the squad. Andy Carroll will be rested. It is unlikely that Pablo Zabaleta will play, but the Argentine is one yellow card away from a ban. The Hammers have progressed into the next round in five of the last six games against lower league opposition. The Irons are unbeaten at London Stadium in the League Cup, having secured a 1-0 win against Accrington and a 2-1 victory against Chelsea in last season’s competition.
Bolton Wanderers manager Phil Parkinson will be without Reece Burke and Josh Cullen, who are ineligible to play against their parent club. Strikers Adam Armstrong, Adam Le Fondre and Aaron Wilbraham could figure after coming off the bench at Ipswich on Saturday. Centre-back Dorian Dervite and central midfielder Darren Pratley are also in contention as Parkinson looks to shuffle his squad. The Trotters have lost three of their last four League Cup encounters with Premier League opponents – each of those three defeats have come in London. Wanderers are currently bottom of the Championship having gained promotion back to the second tier last season. Bolton won 2-1 at Crewe in the first round and secured this tie with the Hammers by beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 at the Macron Stadium in the second round.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Rice, Reid, Ogbonna; Byram, Noble, Obiang, Masuaku; Ayew, Sakho, Arnautovic.
Possible Bolton Wanderers XI: Alnwick; Osede, Dervite, Beevers; Darby, Little, Karacan, Robinson; Buckley, Armstrong, Wilbraham.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!