WEST Ham United's highly-rated Under-18s will get their FA Premier Academy League campaign under way when Manchester United visit Little Heath on Saturday (11am kick-off).

The Irons' Academy side, managed by Billericay's Tony Carr, will face a stern test when they take on Paul McGuinness's newly-crowned Northern Ireland Milk Cup winners, who finished third in Group C last season.

This season, in a change of format, clubs will take on teams in other regional groups.

And Carr is in confident mood after his own team finished last term in second place in Group A behind champions Arsenal.

“The local South East clubs we play on a regular basis, but to play Manchester United and Leeds United in our first two games is not something we normally do – unless we draw them in the FA Youth Cup – and we're looking forward to it,” said the man who led West Ham to the old Under-19 Academy League title in both 1999 and 2000.

“Everything has gone well in pre-season.

“It looks as if we've got a clean bill of health for this weekend and I've got a fit squad to choose from.

“Hopefully we will rise to the occasion and put on a good performance.”

Benfleet's Jordan Brown will be part of Carr's squad after signing his first professional contract during the summer, as will Iceland Under-21 international Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson.

However, Carr is likely to be without striker Freddie Sears and defender Jordan Spence, who could be on first team duty at Manchester City on Sunday.

United coach McGuinness, meanwhile has encouraged his own players to take inspiration from Great Britain's successful Olympic team when they take on the Hammers.

“We’re looking for these boys to now become professionals,” he told manutd.com “That means the right attitude towards training and everything they do.

“I’ve told all the boys to look at the Olympics and see how dedicated the athletes are."

And with a place in Sir Alex Ferguson's all-conquering first team squad as a carrot, McGuinness has urged United's youngsters to try and emulate David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville.

“Getting into our first team is like training to win a gold medal. Over the next few years the boys really have to concentrate on that goal.

“There’s a long way to go, but they’ve all shown great potential so far.”

Among United's highly-rated youngsters will be Italian striker Federico Macheda, who turned 17 on Friday and joined the Red Devils from Lazio in the summer, and Manchester-born forward Danny Welbeck, who took part in the first team's recent tour of Asia.

West Ham United Under-18: (from) Stech, Street, Loveday, Miller, Ashman, Brown, Eyjolfsson, Fry, Edgar, McNaughton, Montano, Brookes, Harvey, Kearns, Lee, Barrett, Stanislas, Abdulla.

Manchester United Under-18: (from) Woods, Zieler, Amos, Strickland, Wootton, Brown, Chester, Dudgeon, Gill, Moffatt, Norwood, Petrucci, Stewart, Curran, Derbyshire, Drinkwater, James, Galbraith, Brady, Ajose, Welbeck, Macheda, Brandao, King, Bryan.