West Ham have confirmed that was a bust up in training between centre back pair Anton Ferdinand and Elliot Ward.

Ferdinand accordingly took offense to Ward's cheeky slap on his head and kicked out at his team mate. The pairs fued continued resulting in Ward throwing a bottle at Ferdinand and the Hammers have moved quickly to play down the severity of the incident. 

"Yes, there was an incident during training which ended with Elliot throwing a plastic bottle at Anton," a club spokesman told the News of the World. "Training sessions are highly competitive, especially witht the FA cup looming and players fighting for their places. It couldn't have been that bad because after training both Elliot and Anton sat together eating lunch."