West Ham United v Manchester United
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Third Round Proper
5.15pm, Saturday 5 January 2013
Upton Park
Live on ITV1
Winning clubs will receive £67,500 from The FA prize fund
Click here for all the Third Round ties
by Alex Shaw
Manchester United have won The FA Cup a record eleven times but have not lifted one of football's most glittering prizes since 2004 - and Sir Alex Ferguson admits he has his work cut out to end that barren run.
United have a rich Cup history but haven't been able to add to their haul in recent years.
They face a resurgent West Ham outfit on Saturday evening in the Third Round Proper and ties between the two Uniteds have resulted in some memorable games in previous years.
This will be the first Cup tie between the sides since Manchester United won 6-0 at home against the Londoners in 2003, while Paolo Di Canio's winner in West Ham's 1-0 victory at Old Trafford in 2001 will live long in the memory.
And as Ferguson bids to make it to The Final for the first time since 2007, he is wary of the threat posed by Sam Allardyce's charges.
Ferguson said: "We've had some really difficult ties over the last three or four years.
"You hope first of all you're going to be at home in the draw, then you want a draw you can get through. But this is a particularly hard one, they're in good form and they're at home.
"Sam [Allardyce] has done a great job there getting them promoted first of all. It's not easy to bounce right back but they've done well and their form has been very good. They've had some excellent results. So it's going to be a tough game."
Matches come thick and fast this time of year and although Ferguson plans to make full use of his squad, the occasion of an FA Cup Third Round tie means he is planning to name a strong team at Upton Park.
Patrice Evra and Michael Carrick may be rested but the likes of Japan international Shinji Kagawa and promising England international Tom Cleverley could feature.
Ferguson added: "I don't think we'll make too many changes. I think we'll more or less play a strong team and hopefully we'll get through."
