UEFA Europa League - Fulham v Wolfsburg:WEST HAM are to make a formal complaint to the Premier League over Fulham's perceived weakened team selection in last Saturday's defeat at Hull City. Roy Hodgson rested Bobby Zamora, Danny Murphy, Damien Duff, Aaron Hughes and Dickson Etuhu with this evening's Europa League quarter-final first leg against Wolfsburg in mind and his reshaped team were beaten 2-0.
Hull’s victory drew them level with West Ham, who have lost their last six games, have 27 points and are outside the relegation zone only on goal difference.
The mood of the West Ham co-owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, will not have been improved by Hodgson’s admission yesterday that, while he felt he would have “no case to answer” if a complaint was made, his selection at Hull had been dictated by his team’s European commitments. “Roy Hodgson admitted on television he had rested players because he had an important Europa League match coming up,” a West Ham spokesman said. “He admitted fielding a weakened team. From our point of view that’s awful and we are going to put in a complaint.”
The Premier League indicated weakened selections would be subject to a disciplinary commission when fining Wolves €28,000 earlier this season for their line-up at Manchester United. Yet they will be aware relations between the London clubs are already strained, with Fulham suing West Ham for “merit money” lost in 2006-07. Fulham finished two points behind West Ham, in 16th, but claimed Carlos Tevez, whose signing had breached rules on third-party ownership, had been key to West Ham’s league survival. “Fulham are suing us for £500,000 (€562,000),” a West Ham spokesman added. “They may find West Ham suing them for £50 million (€56m) next season.”
Hodgson, who hopes Zamora will be fit after a cold ruled him out of training yesterday, had made full use of his squad earlier in the season when retaining Premier League status was a priority. That strategy changed only once they were within sight of safety, with progress in the Europa League now the main objective.
“I made that decision when we got to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and in the Europa League, and we’d reached 38 points,” Hodgson said. “We looked at it and said that, even if we lost every league game from then on, those below us might not overhaul us. So I tinkered on Saturday . . .
“I made the decision to rest four or five players knowing I had the right to do that with the quality of players at my disposal. That meant Murphy, Etuhu, Duff and Zamora didn’t play five games in 12 days. I’ve never experienced a period like this, with games every three days for three months. I’ll be surprised if it’s confirmed (West Ham are to lodge a complaint).”
Guardian Service
