The Premier League has charged West Ham with breaching their rules in relation to the signings of Argentine duo Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano in August.
Tevez and Mascherano joined the club in August, but their registration with third party Media Sports Investment may have broken Premier League regulations.

The Premiership strugglers could be deducted points if they are found guilty of breaching rule U18.

West Ham are 19th in the Premiership, nine points adrift of safety.

A points deduction would almost certainly condemn West Ham to the Championship.

Tevez and Mascherano joined West Ham on 31 August from Brazilian side Corinthians, but the deal was brokered by MSI, who owned the rights to the two players.

The Hammers reportedly failed to hand over vital documentation to the Premier League and have been charged under rule U18 concerning the influence of third-party ownership.

Mascherano has since left the Upton Park club to move to Liverpool.

The Premier League said in a statement: "It is the board's complaint that there were agreements in relation to both these transfers that enabled third parties to acquire the ability materially to influence the club's policies and/or the performance of its teams in League matches and/or the competitions set out in Rule E10.

"The board's view is this constitutes a breach of rule U18.

"Furthermore at the time of the transfer agreements for both Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, and until 24 January 2007, West Ham failed to disclose the third party agreements to the Premier League and/or deliberately withheld these agreements from the Premier League.

"The board's view is this constitutes a breach of rule B13, which states 'In all matters and transactions relating to the League each club shall behave towards each other club and the League with the utmost good faith'.

"West Ham United has 14 days within which to respond to these charges."