Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of West Ham's trip to the Britannia to face Stoke City. Team news is on the way...

Really positive, driving run from Lanzini but his final ball is lacking.

Down the other end Stoke have the same problem as they counter with the forward players just not on the same wavelength as each other.

Great work from Berahino to nip in and win the ball off Kouyate but the move breaks down when Johnson gets a cross-field pass to Muniesa all wrong.

No West Ham wingers mean plenty of space for the Stoke full-backs and Muniesa has time to pick out a cross.

It's pretty poor that it goes over everyone and to the back post and Collins can head away to Masuaku.

Masuaku has started this game well and he wins the ball off Shaqiri and plays it into the feet of Lanzini. The midfield turns but his shot is easily blocked.

CHANCE!

Berahino thought he had his first goal for Stoke. Great work from Stoke sees Muniesa play a wonderful ball to Arnautovic down the left.

He cuts it back and Berahino tries to get the shot away but it's blocked well by Winston Reid.

Masuaku pings a lovely ball with his left across the pitch and Fernandes' low ball in is put behind by Shawcross under little pressure.

The corner is dealt with pretty well only for Calleri to be flagged offside when it's put back in.

Berahino, who is still waiting for his first goal of the season, isn't as good a target as Peter Crouch up front so I'm not sure why Stoke are trying to play it up to him in the air...

West Ham's game plan appears to be sit deep, frustrate Stoke and try to nick a goal on the counter.

And we're underway!

Your referee today is Lee Probert

Butland called into action early as Johnson slips and the ball breaks to Lanzini who has an effort from long-range.

It's easy for Butland to gather.

Right we're just get a couple of minutes away from kick-off.

Send in your predictions!

Jack Butland makes his first appearance at the Bet365 Stadium for 413 days.

Great to see him back

As for the Hammers their figures make for slightly (but not much) better reading.

Michail Antonio (injured) is their top scorer with nine followed by Andy Carroll (injured) and Manuel Lanzini who both have seven. Andre Ayew has five.

As for assists Dimitri Payet (sold) still leads the way with six. Following him are Antonio (injured) and Sofiane Feghouli who are both on three.

Let's dive a little bit deeper into those numbers.

For Stoke the top scorers are Joe Allen and Marko Arnautovic, both with six.

As for assists no-one can better Arnautovic's four, with Charlie Adam managing three...

The problem for both of these sides is that those players haven't fired, or haven't even been fit.

No player in either squad has reached double figures for goals or assists this season...

It's a chilly day in Stoke today but there are certainly plenty of players who could light proceedings up...

You've really got to admire that commitment...

Both of these teams have arguably underperformed this season, West Ham in particular. They both would have wanted to push for a place in the top eight but the Hammers have been closer to the drop zone. In fact the only reason they aren't in danger is because there are so many poorer teams below them.

If Stoke win they could go up to ninth but that's assuming that both Southampton and Watford fail to win, they could drop as low as 15th if they lose and teams below them win.

West Ham could overtake Stoke with a win and could make it up to ninth as well depending on results, such is the tightness of the league at the moment. They could drop down to 16th but they should have too big of a gap between them and the bottom three.

It could be a three at the back system for West Ham unless one of Jose Fonte, James Collins or Winston Reid shift over to play at right-back.

Jonathan Calleri leads the line with Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll both missing out through injury.

Adrian, Fonte, Reid, Collins, Fernandes, Kouyate, Nordtveit, Masuaku, Lanzini, Ayew, Calleri.

Marc Muniesa comes in with Erik Pieters dropping to the bench. Saido Berahino leads the line with Xherdan Shaqiri and Mark Arnautovic flanking him.

Butland; Johnson, Shawcross, M. Indi, Muniesa; Cameron, Whelan, Allen; Shaqiri, Berahino, Arnautovic.