By Mark Heys
May 3 2007

Sammy Lee takes charge of the Bolton Wanderers team for the first time this Saturday knowing that a win could well earn his side a UEFA Cup place next season.

Lee replaced Sam Allardyce as the Wanderers manager on Monday and his first task will be to go down to Upton Park in the hope of taking three points from relegation threatened West Ham United.

Last time out, and in Allardyce's last game in charge, Bolton earned themselves a creditable point away at Premiership holders Chelsea with Kevin Davies scoring a fine header to give the Trotters a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw.

Opponents West Ham have been in good form over the last few weeks by defeating both Everton and Wigan Athletic. Their 3-0 win over the Latics at the JJB Stadium last weekend gives them real hope of avoiding the drop down to the Championship.

Bolton hope to welcome back their captain Kevin Nolan after he missed the last game with an ankle injury. Stelios Giannakopoulos (groin) and Abdoulaye Faye (foot) could also return after they too sat out the game against Chelsea.

Tal Ben-Haim (knee), El-Hadji Diouf (hamstring) and Nicky Hunt (calf) will not make the journey down to the capital and they are expected to miss the final two weeks of the season.

West Ham will be able to play their Argentinian forward Carlos Tevez despite still having yet to reach an agreement with MSI, the company who once owned the players registration.

Central defenders Danny Gabbidon (groin) and Matthew Upson (calf) and striker Dean Ashton (broken ankle) will play no further part for the Hammers this season.

PREMIERSHIP RECORD

18/11/1995 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 WEST HAM UNITED 3 (Bishop, Cottee, Williamson)

13/04/1996 WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Cottee) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

18/10/1997 WEST HAM UNITED 3 (Berkovic, Hartson 2) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

21/02/1998 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Blake) WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Sinclair)

09/02/2002 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Gardner) WEST HAM UNITED 0

11/05/2002 WEST HAM UNITED 2 (Lomas, Pearce) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Djorkaeff)

21/12/2002 WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Pearce) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Ricketts)

19/04/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Okocha) WEST HAM UNITED 0

27/08/2005 WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Sheringham) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Nolan, Campo)

11/03/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 4 (Giannakopoulos 2, Speed, Pedersen) WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Sheringham)

09/12/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 4 (Davies 2, Diouf, Anelka) WEST HAM UNITED 0

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 11

Won: 5

Drawn: 2

Lost: 4

CONNECTIONS

Steve Banks, Franz Carr, David Cross, Les Ferdinand, Harry Kinsell

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED WEST HAM

When West Ham defeated Bolton in November 1995 there where furious demonstrations after the game by supporters calling for the departure of manager Roy McFarland.

The league meeting between these two clubs at the Reebok Stadium in April 2003 was bitter to say the least as both Joe Cole and Rufus Brevett lashed out at their Bolton counterparts following the sending off of teammate Ian Pearce for a foul on Pierre-Yves Andre, none of these players are still at the respective clubs.

Last season Bolton faced the Hammers on five seperate occasions. Twice in the Premiership, twice in the FA Cup and once in the League Cup with the Hammers winning just once.