West Ham United currently sit two points behind Manchester United and with the same goal difference, this coming Saturday Hammers are at home to Watford then travel to Southampton on the 27th and Burnley on the 30th before welcoming Brighton to the London Stadium. The Red Devils have Cardiff, Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Newcastle to come, so will be expecting to pick up plenty of points but with their current malaise under the "Sour One' Jose Mourinho who knows?

The Oxford to leave West Ham story has been doing the rounds just ahead of the January transfer window opening, it is widely believed that Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini doesn't 'fancy' the 6'3" midfielder and has given his verdict on the once incredibly coveted youngster. The Oxford situation is a strange one, essentially the club, especially Slaven Billic, thought that Oxford was going to be the next Rio Ferdinand and therefore cosseted him and gave him a very substantial £20,000 per week contract in order to head off interest from a whole host of top clubs.

West Ham have been considering a January loan move for Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira, the midfielder has been used sparingly by Jose Mourinho this season and has rejected the club's offer of a new three-year contract. United do have an option to extend it by a further year, which they are set to take up although apparently only to avoid losing him on a free transfer.

When Manuel Pellegrini became West Ham United manager he immediately set about completely revamping the squad, so many new players arrived it was obviously going to take time for them to gell. At the time Pellegrini's wisdom of bringing so many new players in at once was questioned, however with Hammers now looking towards European qualification despite having eight players currently sidelined. If the squad assembled had not had so much strength in depth things would have been completely different.

Fulham FC: Rico, Odoi, Mawson, Chambers, Ream, Bryan, Seri, Schurrle, Cairney, Kamara, Mitrovic.Subs: Bettinelli, Kebano, Johansen, Ayite, Vietto, Christie, Cisse.
West Ham Utd: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Balbuena, Diop, Masuaku, Snodgrass, Noble, Rice, Anderson, Hernandez, Antonio. Subs: Adrian, Cresswell, Carroll, Obiang, Ogbonna, Costa Silva, Diangana.

Reading and listening to some of the 'gungho' comments made ahead of West Ham's match against Fulham you would think the game had already been won! How very far from the truth can that be? Just because Hammers have managed to win three matches on the spin why on earth do fans and pundits think Craven Cottage is going to be an easy place to play at?

Having been taught a painful lesson with regards their recruitment due to 'Wheelgate', it is only natural that Manuel Pelegrini and Mario Husillos are recalcitrant when discussing possible new arrivals at the club. However Pellegrini was at pains to confirm Hammers LACK of interest in signing Yaya Toure, Toure was a pivotal member of Pellegrini’s title winning Manchester City side and is a free agent after leaving Olympiakos by mutual agreement on Tuesday after only three months and just five appearances.

Ahead of Hammers televised match against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday, Manuel Pellegrini attempted to put a positive spin on squad fitness: "I think one of the merits of this team is having six or seven injuries, and winning the last three games, I hope we continue with the same spirit." He then discussed individuals by saying "Lucas Perez has a pain. We are reviewing it. Jack Wilshere continues his treatment. He will not play in this game, tomorrow we will know exactly who will be in the squad. Every player who recovers from injuries is an important player for us."

Rafael Benitez v Manuel Pellegrini: Would Rafa thrive once again if given the spending power of West Ham United?

After their recent 3-0 defeat to West Ham United at St James Park, Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez insisted that the Hammers spending power was the difference between the two sides.

There is always something unnerving and yet satisfying for supporters when a long serving player says that they want to end their career at the club, in Hammers case it is Captain Mark Noble. Noble debuted in 2004 as a 17 year old and has gone on to play around 450 games for the club, the option to extend his contract keeping him at the club until 2021 has been taken up, it is also envisaged that his services will be retained in a coaching capacity once he has hung up his boots for good.