England Premier League
Wednesday 19th February 2020
Kick off at 7:30pm GMT
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Match Preview:
Manchester City and West Ham will play their rescheduled game on Wednesday evening after their initial game had to be called off because of severe storms. Storm is a great word too that sums up Manchester City’s week as they were banned from the Champions League for 2 years for allegedly abusing the FFP rules set in place by UEFA. This is a devastating blow to the club but they will fight it with appeals set to take place. The worst case scenario is that the ban will take effect from next season and all of the clubs hard work in this one would have meant very little.
Whilst City will naturally be favourites to win this game and win it well one has to wonder how events off of the pitch have affected the players and the manager. The league has been gone for months and the only motivation for the club now is to perform well in the Champions League. Of course they are still in the Carabao Cup final, but a club of City’s size obviously demand more.
Form for City is not good either with just 1 win from their past 3 games. At the Etihad their last game ended 2-2 vs Crystal Palace and their return of 26 points from a possible 36 isn’t very encouraging for the champions, and the bar that manager Pep Guardiola has set.
West Ham could well be relegated this season and one would feel they would need something here. Their next game is away to Liverpool and it doesn’t get any harder than that. The club come into this game in 18th place and have not won a game in the league since New Year’s Day.
Away form is poor, as the club have lost 50% of their games on their travels and they have lost their last 3 conceding 7 goals in those matches.
Team News:
Manchester City: Raheem Sterling is ruled out with a hamstring injury. Oleksandr Zinchenko is suspended for this game after his sending off for two bookable offences.
West Ham: No new injuries for the club coming into this game.
Man City vs West Ham Head to Head:
In the league Manchester City have won the past 7 meetings in a row.
Last season this fixture ended 1-0 to Manchester City.
In the reverse fixture earlier in the season Manchester City won 5-0.
It’s been 9 games and 5 years since West Ham beat City, but it was at this ground when the Hammers won 2-1.
Man City vs West Ham Prediction:
Manchester City are 1.12 to win this game, it is massively short odds and gives us nothing to work with. Maybe it is odd given the clubs mindset coming into this game. The UEFA news is a blow, the club can’t win the league and if they are allowed to play in the Champions League next season then they have enough points to do so anyway. They won’t slip to 5th at this stage. Clearly the team with a motivation to win the game are West Ham who need to pull out of the bottom three and a win would take them into 16th place.
However, West Ham have been very poor under David Moyes, and you can't help but wonder if he's lost the dressing room already. David Moyes isn't a manager who does well away from home against the bigger teams, he will likely set up defensively, which is why we think Man City could be in line for a clean sheet in this game. We also think City have the quality to win by at least a 2 goal margin, and if Gabriel Jesus starts, he's good value to get on the scoresheet.
Man City vs West Ham Betting Tips:
Asian handicap (-2 Man City) at 1.52
Clean sheet (Man City - Yes) at 1.95
Anytime goalscorer (Gabriel Jesus) at 1.66
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