Kanoute always happy to go against the tide

Frederic Kanoute and Paolo Di Canio are quintessential West Ham players: highly skilful, quick-footed, quick-witted and with an eye for the spectacular. But, as they prepare to take on Manchester United tomorrow at Old Trafford (ITV, kick-off 2.0), it would be pushing things to call them a striking partnership in the traditional sense.

They are not, for instance, a partnership like the one Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham formed for England, contrasting players who complement each other's skills and work to feed each other's strengths. Kanoute and Di Canio are two individual spirits often vying for the same small circle of spotlight at centre stage and who succeed almost in spite of each other - though they have not yet argued over who should take a penalty kick, as Di Canio and Frank Lampard once did.

There is, at least, a mutual admiration: "I really like playing with Paolo," Kanoute says, "even though it is sometimes difficult for us to agree. Sometimes he does his own thing when he gets the ball and sometimes I do mine. We have to work harder to agree together, but at this level you should be able to play with anybody."

They certainly lack the near-telepathic understanding which a scientific experiment once tried to prove existed between Kevin Keegan and John Toshack at Liverpool, but nor do they seek one, rarely passing to each other in some matches. But their individual talents somehow form a perfect whole since they have contributed 10 goals each to the West Ham cause this season.

Although both are West Ham types, Di Canio has the more typical profile of a player bought by the manager Harry Redknapp: someone with a troubled history and in the twilight of his career. But in signing Kanoute (23), Redknapp almost tore out a leaf from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's book, by plucking an unknown from France and polishing him into a Premiership gem.

Kanoute, who joined Lyon as an 11-year-old and played in their first team at 16, admits: "No one in France knew I existed. Despite starting early, I did not play many games and it is only since I came to England that people have noticed me."

He felt, too, that he had become part of the furniture at Lyon, with the chairman treating him in the same patronising manner as when he was a young boy. So when he fell out with the coach his departure became a formality.

Playing top-level football so young also brought physical problems, earning him a reputation as injury-prone. But when he was recommended last season, Redknapp wanted only the usual West Ham question answered: can the boy play? He had his answer when Kanoute made an outstanding debut against Wimbledon last March, joining Di Canio in scoring in a 2-1 win. He was just as impressive in his other seven games last season, scoring once more, and though Redknapp felt that he could not afford the 3.7 million sterling fee to sign him permanently, the deal went through after Marc Vivien Foe agreed to travel in the other direction.

Kanoute turned down a move to Celtic before the loan deal at Upton Park and his form last season alerted Rangers, Chelsea and Liverpool. But, despite rumours that he is seeking a bigger stage, he insists: "I am very happy at West Ham and I am very grateful to Harry Redknapp for giving me a chance and for improving my career."

Rumours were fuelled when he made the hardly novel claim that he would have more chance of playing for France if he were at Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool.

Kanoute should recover from a hamstring injury to play tomorrow. West Ham have failed to beat United in any of their 14 Premiership encounters and Kanoute subscribes to the Wenger theory that, though players may not lie down in front of their presumed masters, they are cowed.

"I really believe that players have it in their mind before the match that they are going to lose. But we must not feel like that on Sunday. I would think we should be able to beat them one time in five and maybe that occasion will be this time."

Even though United play a more continental style of game, Kanoute expects his normal bruising encounters with defenders. "In France the game is more calculated; the coach tells the players when to challenge for the ball and when to play forward. In England defenders know only how to fight and be strong."

If Di Canio and Kanoute actually learned to work together they could be even more devastating, but perhaps that is the secret of their partnership: if one rarely know what the other will do next, how can defences be expected to read them?