FA Cup replay preview: Manchester United v West Ham

Robin van Persie with Danny Welbeck

It has become one of the most familiar sights of this season: Robin van Persie soaking up the adulation of the Manchester United supporters after scoring a dramatic late goal.

Back on January 5th, though, the Dutchman’s stoppage-time strike at Upton Park wasn’t a winning goal – but it was enough to force a FA Cup third round replay and keep the Red Devils in the hunt for all three major trophies.

Not only that, but it was a goal which will be talked about by Manchester United fans for years to come, in the same way they do about Wayne Rooney’s overhead kick against Manchester City, Eric Cantona’s chip against Sunderland and Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick against Portsmouth.

It was a goal of the highest quality, created by a sumptuous pass from the left foot of Ryan Giggs and finished – wonderfully – after one of the finest first-touches you’re likely to see by the equally sweet left foot of Van Persie.

Hard on hosts West Ham, who were good value for their 2-1 lead on the night, but undoubtedly one of the best – if not, the best – goals of this current FA Cup campaign.

Even Joe Cole, who provided two assists for James Collins on his second West Ham debut, held his hands up and admitted the Premier League’s top scorer is simply “different class”.

“You take away Messi and Ronaldo and he’s probably the best player in the world,” the ex-Liverpool midfielder said. “He is hard to stop and he is just sublime.”

After scoring against Liverpool in United’s 2-1 victory over their arch-rivals at the weekend, Van Persie is producing the best football of his career and West Ham know they have their work cut out on Wednesday with him on the pitch.

Let’s not forget: Van Persie did not start the match at Upton Park. He only played the final 20 minutes, but that was still sufficient time for him to make a telling contribution.

Even if the Premier League and Champions League competitions remain the biggest prizes in the mind of United’s veteran manager Sir Alex Ferguson, he will be keen to lift the FA Cup at least one more before finally calling time on his glittering managerial career.

And West Ham must bounce back from that bitter disappointment at Upton Park – not to mention Saturday’s 3-0 league defeat at Sunderland – in order to avoid finding themselves on the wrong end of a hammering at Old Trafford.

Hammers boss Sam Allardyce labelled his team’s defending as “pathetic” after their visit to the north-east at the weekend, and will expect his team to produce the type of defensive performance as the one which almost earned them a point on their previous visit to the Theatre of Dreams in November.

You-know-who opened the scoring after just 32 seconds with a fortuitous deflected effort, but United could have had few complaints had West Ham left Manchester with a point.

Memories of 2001 will be rekindled for those West Ham supporters who make their way up to Old Trafford this week.

However a repeat of that famous FA Cup fourth round victory, when Paolo Di Canio rolled the ball under Fabien Barthez, is unlikely to occur this week.

Prediction: Manchester United 2 West Ham 0

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