Town are unlikely to make too many changes when they face West Ham at Upton Park on Saturday, despite Tuesday's 3-2 defeat at Stoke City. Manager Joe Royle is still unhappy at a defeat he felt better defending could have prevented.

The Town boss said: "I'm still upset, and that is the second time this season we have lost 3-2 after being 2-1 up. But at the same time we are not too far away.

"We are still the leading scorers in the division, so there is no need to panic. I'm disappointed we lost, but not with the group of players. They have taken us to the top, but it was a generally bad night for certain individuals."

One of those individuals is likely to be right-back Drissa Diallo who was arguably at fault on all three goals. However, the Guinean international's presence in the backline has largely been a success this season.

Were he to sit out, Fabian Wilnis is likely to move to his more regular right-back role, with Matt Richards coming in at left-back.

Town might make a switch up front, with Pablo Couñago or Dean Bowditch coming in for Shefki Kuqi, although the big Finn has been preferred by Joe Royle this season and the manager may consider him a better bet away from home.

The Blues have no new injury worries and Royle names an unchanged 17 for the trip to east London, Scott Barron (groin) remaining the only player on the sidelines.

Conversely, it will be a much-changed West Ham squad which faces the Blues from the one they came up against in the play-offs only a few months ago.

In recent days the likes of Malky Mackay, Carl Fletcher and loanees Calum Davenport and Chris Powell have moved to Upton Park, while Sergei Rebrov and Teddy Sheringham joined in the summer.

Moving in the other direction have been Brian Deane (Leeds), Michael Carrick (Spurs), David Connolly (Leicester), Jobi McAnuff (Cardiff) and Town's Kevin Horlock, who will face his old side for the first time.

Manager Alan Pardew says his summer wheeling and dealing has assembled a squad which can gain promotion: "We have a squad I feel is good enough to win this league.

"There have been times when we have struggled to overcome teams with a negative type of game-plan. However, after the recent signings, I now feel we have a squad who can play their way out of this division."

The Hammers welcome back Andy Melville and Bobby Zamora after injury.

Saturday's referee is Rob Styles from Portsmouth, like Tuesday's official Mike Dean, on the Select Group List of referees. Styles has shown just three yellow cards in three games this season. His last Town game was the 2-1 win against Wimbledon at Milton Keynes last March.

Town squad: Bent, Bowditch, Counago, Davis, Diallo, De Vos, Dinning, Horlock, Kuqi, Magilton, Miller, Mitchell, Naylor, Price, Richards, Westlake and Wilnis.

Photo: Action Images

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