SOCCER:There are not many footballers who leave West Ham United and are rewarded with a favourable reception when they return to the club but, in the case of Carlos Tevez, Alex Ferguson believes the Argentinian can buck the trend at Upton Park today.
Tevez's goals were instrumental in saving West Ham from relegation last season and, as the striker prepares to face his former club for the first time since defecting to Manchester United in the summer, Ferguson said he would be disappointed if there was a hostile reaction from the home supporters.
"The players we have signed from West Ham don't usually get a good reception when they go back there," said the United manager. "It's a part of football we have to accept, that when players go back to their former club they don't always get the reception you think they should get. And it's one thing we always pride ourselves on at our club, that if someone has been a great servant for us they will always get a great ovation when they come back.
"It will be interesting to see what happens with Tevez, though, because the West Ham fans must be thankful, deep down, for what he did for their club. I think he kept them up."
Ferguson's team head for London with a one-point advantage over Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, seven ahead of Chelsea in third place and nine clear of Liverpool. Now Ferguson hopes the leaders will benefit from Arsenal and Chelsea losing players for the African Cup of Nations - in Arsenal's case Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure, and for Chelsea Mikel John Obi, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Salomon Kalou.
"Arsenal and Chelsea are losing players and I hope it will stand in our favour," said Ferguson, who will be without his goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar again today. "They can buy players to help them through this period. But it's not easy. January is difficult because if you're a Champions League club you want someone who can play in that competition and that is very difficult because it automatically eliminates 100-odd clubs who have already played in Europe.
"I certainly don't think the transfer market in January is as good as some people think but I know some of the other clubs, particularly Chelsea, will be looking at this window."
Along the road to salvation last season West Ham beat Manchester United 1-0 twice in the league, with Tevez scoring at Old Trafford in May.
West Ham, who hope to have Anton Ferdinand fit to face his brother, Rio, after a two-month absence with a hamstring injury, lie in 10th place going into today's game but have won only two of their nine games at home this season. The captain, Lucas Neill, urged the club's supporters to stick with the team.
"What better way to get our home form back on track than with the Upton Park crowd behind us spurring us on to a victory over the Premier League champions," the Australian international said. "We did the double over them last season . . ."
The difference this time around is that Tevez will be playing for the opposition.
Chelsea manager Avram Grant will think again about future appeals to the English FA to contest red cards after his calls for "honesty" fell on deaf ears over Ashley Cole's sending-off against Aston Villa on St Stephen's Day. An FA disciplinary panel threw out Cole's appeal last night, insisting the defender had been rightly dismissed for using his hand to deny Gabriel Agbonlahor's stoppage-time header on the goal-line.
Grant, speaking before the governing body's decision, had claimed television replays of the incident showed the full-back had used his head to scramble the ball clear and called upon the referee, Phil Dowd, to admit he had been mistaken. "If it's for nothing, I'll have to think about it (appealing again in future)," said Grant when asked what his attitude would be if Cole's appeal was rejected. "I'm not saying the referee was dishonest. I said I expect him and his assistant, at the appeal, to be honest. They thought Ashley saved the ball with his hand. It was his head.
"They are human beings and they can admit they were wrong, like Ricardo Carvalho did (for his foul on Agbonlahor in the same game). Now I hear people are saying the ball hit him on the head to chest and then maybe touched his hand. So is it an anatomy lesson now? It's like an animal, this ball."
Cole will serve his one-match ban against Newcastle United this afternoon with Carvalho missing the first of three games for his two-footed lunge on the Villa striker. Indeed, Grant has been denied virtually half of his first-team squad through injury or suspension with Claude Makelele joining the walking wounded after requiring surgery on an ear problem which had affected the midfielder's sense of balance.
A quintet of other first-team players are also ruled out, including Frank Lampard and John Terry, leaving Chelsea to reassess their approach in the transfer window. "If the injuries continue like this we'll need more than we said before," added Grant. "I've spoken to the owner (Roman Abramovich) about everything and he knows the situation we're in. He knows what we need to do." - Guardian Service
