 Tuesday, 27th Sep 2011 09:06 Boss Paul Jewell looks set to stick with the same XI for the third game running when his resurgent Blues take on West Ham at Upton Park this evening (KO 7.45pm). The Town manager is hoping to build on the victory over Coventry and Saturday’s 0-0 draw at high-flying Middlesbrough. Jewell says the 4-4-2 formation with a diamond midfield he has utilised in the last two games is a system which suits his players: “If you look at our midfield — Jimmy Bullard, Lee Bowyer, Keith Andrews and Grant Leadbitter — we’ve not got a defensive player there, if we’re being honest. “At this moment in time that’s the personnel we’ve got and we’ve got to think how we can get the best out of them, but there’s nothing to say that this won’t change during the course of the season with form, suspensions and injuries.” However, he admits that the current formation has its vulnerabilities: “I think the way we’re playing at the moment we are a little bit open, if I’m being honest. “The two centre-backs have done really well in the last couple of games and that gives us that platform knowing that we’ve got two centre-halves and a keeper who is top class behind them. “We want our full-backs to get forward but at times we do get a little bit exposed. On Saturday, they had a bit of pressure, which you would expect, but Stocky’s really only had one save to make. We were pleased but West Ham’s another challenge, and another very difficult one.” Jewell says his side is defending better as a team: “I don’t think in the past that we’ve defended from the front well — closing defenders down, stopping people turning us round with balls into the channels. “At times we’ve let teams play too easily against us. What we’re saying is that we’re a better team going forward than we are just trying to sit back. “We probably aren’t a team which can sit back and soak up the pressure as a group. We’re better off on the front foot trying to win the game, trying to put the opposition on the back foot.” The Liverpudlian says tonight’s first task is to try to dampen the Upton Park mood, having achieved decent results there with one of his previous clubs: “Our job is to go there and try and make the atmosphere as quiet and as edgy as possible. “We got a good result a couple of times with Wigan, even under the lights. It’s going to be tough because they’re a good team, they’ve got a good manager, top class staff behind them and they’ve got arguably the best team in this division.” The Town boss, who expects West Ham to be in the top two come May, says his players perhaps aren’t as physically strong as their opponents and will have to keep their concentration at set plays: “We’ve got to make sure that in any physical battles we make it as difficult for West Ham as possible because that is one of their strengths. “From set pieces, freekicks and corners they’re going to be dangerous and we’ve got to stand up and do our best to try and counteract that. And when we get the ball we’ve got to try and play, but play in the right areas.” Despite the upturn in form, Jewell says his side are far from the finished article: “There’s a long, long way for us to improve yet. Our season started in August and we are where we are because of what’s gone on before. We had two horrendous defeats against Southampton and Peterborough. “We had a tough result at Blackpool and we’ve come in for a lot of criticism, myself and the team and we accept that. “But we’re also not getting carried away when people say nice things about us. It’s a long, long season and a long, long job and hopefully I’ll be here for a long, long time.” The Blues boss knows his West Ham counterpart Sam Allardyce well: “I know Sam from playing against him. I remember when Sam was manager at Notts County and I was manager at Bradford we used to ring each other up and moan about our chairman, him about Derek Pavis and me about Geoffrey Richmond. We swapped a few stories. “They got promoted that year, I think from the Fourth Division, and we got promoted from the Championship. “Our paths have crossed a few times and whenever it happens it’s hard to shake hands without a drink after the game.” He says Allardyce is a managerial pioneer: “We both love the game, there’s no doubt about that. I think we’re both old-fashioned but Sam has brought in lots and lots of new ideas and he’s very innovative in the scientific side of the game. "In fact, he’s got more staff than I’ve got players. They don’t need a bench at West Ham, they need a stand for all the staff! He’s done a brilliant job of moving the science of football forward. He’s been a big leader in that.” Jewell admits he was surprised that Allardyce enticed his old Bolton skipper Kevin Nolan away from the Premier League and Newcastle this summer: “I didn’t think that Kevin Nolan would drop to the Championship but there’s only one manager he would drop to the Championship for and that’s Big Sam. “He’s a big figure, he’s the captain and I believe he’s a terrific lad to have around the place. He’s a player who just gets goals. Sometimes he maybe doesn’t open up the play as much as he’d like to, but he gets on the end of stuff and he’s just brilliant at it.” The Blues boss is pleased with the way his players have performed in their last two fixtures but says there’s only one match in his thoughts at present: “Four points out of six is decent but we’ve got to forget about how good we’ve been in the last two games and take it into the next one, which is the only game that counts now.” As at Middlesbrough and against Coventry, David Stockdale will be in goal, Aaron Cresswell at left-back, Carlos Edwards at right-back and Danny Collins and Ibrahima Sonko at the centre of the defence. In midfield, Jimmy Bullard will again take the deepest role with Lee Bowyer on the left, Keith Andrews on the right and Grant Leadbitter at the most advanced point of the diamond. Jason Scotland and Michael Chopra will be up front. Jewell has also named an unchanged bench for the last two matches but could add Lee Martin to his options if the former Manchester United man is over his tonsillitis. Mark Kennedy remains out with a calf problem. The Hammers have fitness concerns regarding Joey O'Brien, Guy Demel (both hamstring) and Matt Taylor (calf). Midfielder Gary O'Neil is out with an ankle injury and striker Frederic Piquionne is suspended. David Bentley, on loan from Spurs, could make his debut, while central defender James Tomkins is over a groin problem and could be in contention for a start with Allardyce weighing up whether to make changes: "At the moment, it is difficult to change a winning side. “A three-game week is obviously an opportunity to look at [other players]. My anxiety is that I'm still learning about all the players I have. Sometimes when you're two or three years into a job it takes not a lot of thinking about because you know your players inside out. "At the moment I'm not quite au fait with everybody's physical condition but I'm learning every week. The players are getting to know each other more and more and getting better and better. "It was a thoroughly well-deserved three points against Peterborough United [on Saturday]. We would have liked it to be more comfortable but it does not matter when we see the three points and that we are fourth in the table." The former Newcastle and Blackburn boss says he saw last Monday’s Town game: “I watched the TV game against Coventry. “Paul Jewell is getting his team together there and like ourselves has got a lot of experienced players that have played in the Premier League that are now finding their feet and beginning to put some good results together. It will be a tough game like every game is in this league. "He has got Keith Andrews, who I had at Blackburn, and is an excellent player and has scored some real good goals for them. "He has got Jimmy Bullard, Michael Chopra - quite a few players with Premier League experience in there. They play a similar way to Peterborough so again it will be about nullifying their strengths and exposing their weaknesses. We have to make sure we take more of our chances though." West Ham midfielder Mark Noble spent time on loan with the Blues during the 2006/07 season, scoring one goal in 12 start and one sub appearance. His cousin, Lee Bowyer, was at Upton Park between January and July 2003 and again from June 2006 to July 2009, while boyhood Hammers fan Jimmy Bullard was a youngster with his local club but was released without playing a senior game. Historically, West Ham have had the better of it, the Blues winning 19 games between the sides (19 in the league), the Hammers 27 (24) and 20 (17) ending in draws. Aside from two Portman Road friendlies won 5-3 and 1-0 by the Hammers, the teams haven’t met since the 2004/05 season when East Londoners beat the Blues in the play-offs to join Paul Jewell’s Wigan in the Premier League. Two second half goals from Bobby Zamora saw Alan Pardew’s men to a 2-0 victory at Portman Road in the second leg to take the semi-final 4-2 on aggregate, the match at Upton Park having ended 2-2. In that first leg, two goals in the opening 13 minutes from one-time Town loanee Marlon Harewood and Zamora had put the Hammers in front but Tommy Miller's freekick just before the break went in off keeper James Walker and Shefki Kuqi equalised during the second period. Earlier that season, Town's 17-match home unbeaten run stretching back to April 2004 ended as West Ham left Portman Road with a 2-0 win. Keeper Kelvin Davis gifted the first to Harewood in the opening minute, the second goal coming from Matthew Etherington in the final minute of normal time. In the Upton Park fixture, Town came from behind to gain a deserved 1-1 draw. Malky Mackay seized on an error in the Blues defence to put the Hammers ahead early on but Town struck back through Pablo Couñago in the second half. Tonight’s referee is Keith Stroud from Dorset, who has shown 30 yellow cards and one red in eight games so far this season. Stroud’s most recent Town match was the 3-0 home defeat to QPR in September last year in which he booked Tommy Smith, Grant Leadbitter and Jason Scotland. Stroud previously took control of the 2-1 victory over Reading at Portman Road in April 2010 in which the Royals had defender Matt Mills sent off. The former Premier League official was also the man in charge when Town won 1-0 at Derby in December 2008 — the Rams having Jordan Stewart sent off — the game which was Paul Jewell’s last as manager at Pride Park. Squad from: Stockdale, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Cresswell, Ainsley, Sonko, Collins, Delaney, Ingimarsson, Bullard, Andrews, Bowyer, Leadbitter, Martin, Emmanuel-Thomas, Chopra, Scotland, Murphy.
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