Welcome to our LIVE coverage of West Ham v Stoke City. Kick off is at 3.00pm - we'll be here from 45 minutes beforehand with all the pre-match build-up.

Tomkins looks to orchestrate a quick counter-attack for West Ham, though his ball over the top for Noble runs straight through to Asmir Begovic - who of course used to play for Avram Grant at Portsmouth.

Pennant swings in another corner, but again it's a poor delivery, this time ba is able to clear at the near post.

Pennant swings it in, and Piquionne heads clear at the near post. Just looking in that penalty area, Stoke have a clear height advantage, with Carew, Delap, Huth and Shawcross all towering figures.

Walters forces a smart save at the near post from Green, and Stoke have their first corner of the match.

Interestingly Ba had trials with both Coventry and Barnsley earlier in his career, though neither club saw fit to offer him a contract.

Ba looks to turn and run at Huth, who nicks the ball off the Senegalese forward with aplomb. It looked for all the world like Demba Ba was bound for Stoke in January until a failed medical put paid to that move, and now he lines up against his former suitors in the colours of West Ham.

Another hopeful ball over the top from Pugh runs straight through to Green.

A pretty frantic opening few minutes here at Upton Park. Neither side has really been able to keep possession for long - though that's not really a part of Stoke's game anyway.

Pennant leads a counter-attack for Stoke and plays it wide for Delap, he in turn looks for the run of Walters, though Da Costa shepherds it out of play for a goal kick.

Ba runs into the back Huth of after knocking the ball past him in the area, half-hearted apeals go up for a penalty, but referee Andre Marriner's having none of it.

Pennant wins a yard of space against Bridge, strikes a cross into the near post, and Green is out quickly to collect.

Carew wins a free-kick off Upson in midfield. That will be a key battle today.

Noble looks for the run of Cole with a through-ball from midfield, but that was hit far too firmly for the big man to be able to chase.

West Ham get the first half underway to a rousing chorus of "I'm forever blowing bubbles".

A very warm embrace just before kick-off between Avram Grant and Tony Pulis. Back in January it looked for all the world like old Avram would be given the boot, but he's a durable character, and he's still here and fighting to keep his team in the Premiership.

A close to capacity crowd has turned out here at Upton Park, and we're now just five minutes from kick off as the players make their way out onto the pitch.

A cloudy day here in East London, though it's pretty dry, and the pitch is in pretty good shape. The sprinklers are out to give a bit of zip to the playing surface. All the ingredients are here for a fine game of football.

Victory for West Ham here today would take them out of the bottom three, at least until tomorrow's game between Wolves and Tottenham.Stoke, meanwhile, lie tenth, six points clear of the relegation zone.

The key to today's fixture could lie in West Ham's ability to deal with Stoke's well-documented aerial threat. 56% of their goals this season have come from set pieces - the highest in the Premiership.

Stoke can take heart from Kenwyne Jones's stats coming into this match: he has scored three goals in five Premier League starts against the Hammers.

Today's man in black is Andre 'Ancient' Marriner.