Still Following the Trawler

West Ham vs Manchester United. FA Cup Upton Park. Saturday 5th January. 17:15 KO TEAM NEWS United: Phil Jones and Vidic will feature, following successful recovery from injury spells. Jones has made only four starts this season, however has made three of them in December as he looks to finally shake the hamstring injury that has prevented his chances so far in 2012/13. Vidic is also making a gradual return from his  injury (also hamstring) Wayne Rooney (knee) has been ruled out of today's game while Nani (hamstring) is still missing despite returning to training. West Ham: Kevin Nolan (c) and James Collins will return back to the side following suspensions. Defender Joey O'Brien (hamstring) is a doubt and striker Andy Carroll (knee) and midfielder Mohamed Diame (hamstring) are still unavailable. MATCH FACTS United have won 57, drawn 24 and lost 42 of their 123 competitive matches against West Ham. We have won eight of the last nine, including the 1-0 win at OT in November...

By Mail Online , Graeme Yorke Anders Lindegaard believes Manchester United's impressive festive form is down to team spirit - unlike their neighbours across the city. The Premier League leaders took 10 points from a possible 12 over Christmas and New Year to open up a seven-point gap between themselves and Manchester City. And while Mario Balotelli was involved in a training ground bust-up with his manager Roberto Mancini, Lindegaard and his United team-mates were reaping the rewards of a positive atmosphere. "The team spirit is as high as I can remember since I came here [in December 2010]," he told MUTV. "We have done tremendously well over the Christmas period and picked up some great results, only dropping points against Swansea - which was a game that we should have won in my opinion." Read the rest of the story here .

Remember this guy? Remember how much we used to fancy him - last summer, and the summer before...and the summer before? Remember how much he and United used to flirt and frolic at the dreamy notion of him playing at Old Trafford? An almost Shakespearean tale of one man's shared love for a team that somehow never seemed to come into fruition. So strong was this 'one day my sweet' status of this love affair, he somehow always felt like our player. Well, now no one cares. Inter Milan - nine points away from top spot - don't want him and he's conveniently decided that he'd NOW like to move to the Premier League, please. Yet while we opted to buy his international team-mate last summer instead of meeting Inter's absurd demands - which, I think, worked out ok..? - poor old Wesley has been reduced to bit-part player, largely due to a (unsurprising) contract battle with his club. A United legend is what he could've been, the one to finally fill the Ronaldo void,...