DEAN Holdsworth and Nathan Blake will be reunited on Saturday as Wanderers aim to land a hammer blow in their desperate fight to avoid the drop.

The Reebok duel with Harry Redknapp's talented West Ham side marks the resumption of the attacking partnership Colin Todd always hoped would lead his side to Premiership survival.

But they have started only seven games together since Holdsworth's record breaking £3.5 million transfer from Wimbledon in October, which coincided with top scorer Blake serving a three-match ban. Now they are back in harness and aiming to pit their experience against the young and highly promising talents of West Ham's defensive starlet, Rio Ferdinand.

Wanderers won three and drew two of those seven games in a phase of the season that took them to 13th in the table. But they have failed to record a single victory in the Premiership or the FA Cup since beating Newcastle on December 1.

Holdsworth, sidelined with shin and calf injuries, hasn't started a game since the derby defeat at Blackburn on Dec 6. He has had two brief outings as substitute but is now fully fit with Todd making no bones about his expectations.

"It's a partnership that really hasn't had time to develop because of circumstances," the manager acknowledged.

"We all had high hopes that it would and we still do. Hopefully they and everyone else will have a chance in the last 13 games to produce what we expect of them.

"The statistics of their partnership are quite encouraging. They haven't played together too often but we had some good results when they did."

Holdsworth's return to match fitness is perfectly timed with Bob Taylor having returned to West Brom after his four-match loan stint. Todd is also forced to make a change in midfield with Scott Sellars starting a two-match suspension.

Michael Johansen and John Sheridan are the candidates for promotion from the subs' bench.

West Ham, currently lying eighth in the Premiership, will be without suspended skipper Steve Lomas but will have recent signing Trevor Sinclair available again. The former QPR winger was ineligible for last Saturday's 4th round FA Cup tie against Blackburn.

Wanderers have switched the venue of next Monday's Pontins League fixture against Wolves from Leigh RMI's Hilton Park to the Reebok Stadium (ko 7pm).

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