Pardew urges Hammers to rise to occasion

West Ham manager Alan Pardew has challenged his players to turn league disappointment into FA Cup glory for the second week running.

Tonight’s FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester City is the Hammers’ third game in six days but arguably the most important of the entire season.

Pardew rested players on Saturday only to see his revamped side mauled 4-2 at home by struggling Portsmouth, a side that had been suffering an away-day goal drought.

The Hammers boss had tinkered with his preferred line-up in the Premiership game before that as well and that had resulted in a 4-1 thrashing at Bolton.

But Pardew’s men recovered from that setback to knock the Trotters out of the FA Cup a few days later in a fifth-round replay that went to extra time.

He said: “We had a hangover last week and we managed to overcome that. Whether we manage to overcome that on Monday night we will have to see.

“We have come through some big, big games in this competition already and Monday gives us the chance of reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup. We have to try to grasp it with both hands.”

West Ham have already lost in the league at Eastlands as two Andy Cole goals gave City a 2-1 win in October.

Pardew said: “We did not play well that day. For Manchester City it was a comfortable victory, although we sneaked a goal right at the end. The scoreline flattered us.

“We will need to give a better account of ourselves but there are a lot of things in terms of Monday night that will be good for us. We will have a good following there, as you get a bigger allocation for cup games, plus it is a big pitch, which will help us.”

Goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, defender Anton Ferdinand and midfielder Matthew Etherington are all major injury doubts but a large away following is sure to be present in Manchester, with the London club having laid on free coach travel north for all ticket buyers.

Pardew said: “I found out on Thursday we had already sold 2,000 tickets for Monday night, which is fantastic. We can’t take that for granted and the gesture to pay for the buses is part of that – to say thank you very much to them.

“Without the people coming through the turnstiles there is no club, so we are respectful of that. To sell 2,000 tickets in a day is pretty impressive, especially as it is a Monday night game that is on TV.”