Avram Gran

The former Portsmouth and Chelsea coach took over at Upton Park in the summer after the Hammers board decided to sack Gianfranco Zola following their brush with the drop.

The east London side narrowly avoided relegation last year and had hoped with Grant at the helm they would be challenging for a place in the top half.

However, so far it hasn’t worked out for Grant’s men, losing their first two matches in the Premier League.

West Ham (40/1 Carling Cup Outright) are one of three teams without a point from their opening fixtures and could easily have been on the wrong end of a cup upset on Tuesday night.

They welcomed League Two side Oxford to Upton Park expecting to roll over the Yellows and boost their confidence ahead of this weekend’s match against Manchester United.

Instead they had to rely on skipper Scott Parker to get them out of jail again with a 90th-minute winner after surviving a number of close shaves.

Despite West Ham getting their first win of the season under their belts Grant was unhappy with the manner of their performance and pointed to the players’ delicate mindset as to why they are currently struggling.

“Mentally it is not just because it is the first win but that we did it in the last moment,” said Grant. “This team carried a lot of psychology problems.

“When everything goes well we are OK, when it does not we are a bit nervous.”

The Israeli will be desperate to get his player’s heads right ahead of this Saturday’s match against Manchester United (1/6 to beat the Hammers) at Old Trafford.

West Ham have won one of their previous seven meetings at the Theatre of Dreams, shipping nine goals in their last three matches there.

With a match against champions Chelsea to come the week after Grant is hopeful that Tuesday’s victory will give his side a much needed confidence boost.

“Tonight [Tuesday] they saw that if you don’t give up and keep trying to do the right things you can score in the last moment,” he added.

“When you play against a team not from our league they will always defend. I liked that the players continued to pass the ball and were not crazy to score.

“We are in the next round and that is the most important thing.”

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Barcelona (1.30) travel to city rivals Espanyol (9.00) on Saturday evening and it may be somewhat surprising that Barca coach Pep Guardiola has chosen to classify this match with such importance considering the opposition are 13 places lower in La Liga and 46 points separate them.

Barcelona have been unstoppable in recent seasons with Europe’s biggest and best teams failing to stop them so a lowly Espanyol outfit look pretty unlikely to be able to halt Barcelona’s charge for the Primera Division.

However this is a city derby and it is well known that the form book goes out of the window in the blood and thunder of a local derby. Espanyol can take some confidence from recent matches against Barca to give them hope of an upset their last four encounters at home with Barcelona read W1 D2 L1.

Head-to-head

• Barca have only managed to win three while losing two and drawing the other four.
• Espanyol were the only team to win at the Nou Camp in La Liga last season when Barcelona were still hunting the title.

You can bet on now Barcelona (1.30)v  Espanyol (9.00) now

On the team news front, the home side will be without their number one keeper Carlos Kameni as he serves a ban after being sent off in Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat to Racing Santander.

Barcelona will be without Eric Abidal and Andres Iniesta but Zlatan Ibrahimovic is expected to be on the bench. The news has been full of plaudits for Lionel Messi in the last few weeks after a string of stellar performances and goals, but it is now midfielder Xavi who is putting in the world class performances too and he is 9.00 to get the first goal in this match.

Guardiola will not allow his troops to slip up in this potential banana skin game and the quality of Messi et al will ensure another Barcelona victory. Back a 3-1 win for Barcelona which is available at 11.00 with PartyBets.com.

Related posts:

1. La Liga Predictions: Expect More From Magical Messi
2. La Liga Review: Madrid Maintain Pressure on Barcelona
3. Nine-Man Barcelona Win Again as Madrid Keep Pace

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