West Ham face a nervous wait before discovering whether their legal fight against Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair has ended. High court judge Nigel Teare, whose decision was expected today, will reserve judgment for several weeks before deciding whether to grant Sheffield United a permanent injunction preventing West Ham taking an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

The judge has told the clubs he will make a decision before Christmas. Until that ruling there will be no attempt by either side to take the matter further with CAS.

Meanwhile, the independent arbitration panel under Lord Griffiths that found against West Ham in September has told the clubs that a decision on the level of damages will not be made before the middle of March next year. Sheffield United are claiming up to £50m in compensation after the arbitration panel ruled that Tevez should not have been permitted to play in the final matches of the 2006-07 season, when he helped West Ham avoid relegation.

West Ham had argued that they had already been punished by the Premier League - they were fined £5.5m - and were merely following league instructions. The arbitration panel decided, however, that the Hammers had not abided by their pledge to end all third-party agreements in relation to Tevez.