England Premier League
Sunday 7th August 2022
Kick off at 4:30pm BST
Venue: London Stadium
Match Preview:
There’s a shift in the air over at West Ham a club who have vastly improved over the last two seasons with David Moyes as manager. But that shift remains, no longer are they a club selected when the Premier League season pundits are predicting a struggle or even relegation. Now it is about can West Ham finish in a top six place? Already they have a very good squad and Moyes has been bullish about adding more quality and the Hammers have been linked with many players and brought a few in too.
The highlight so far is the capture of Gianluca Scamacca from Sassuolo the forward banged in 16 goals in Serie A last season, no mean feat and he will be expected to be a success at the Hammers. Nayef Aguerd has come in from Rennes in defence and the Hammers have spent over £70m so far. Stalwarts Ryan Fredericks and Andriy Yarmolenko have been released and veteran Mark Noble has retired, so there will evidently be changes for the club.
Pre-season witnessed many draws and just one loss which came away to Rangers with that game ending 3-1. The Hammers last friendly was in France against Lens and that finished 0-0.
The champions will want to get off to the perfect start and they are the favourites to win a hat trick of league titles. City want to push on too in the Champions League after last seasons disappointment. Everyone will be talking about the signing of Erling Haaland who has been literally devastating in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund for his goals and unbelievable pace- it will be very fascinating to see how he deals with the Premier League. His fee was just £51m owing to how his original contract came about and City have landed what could be one of the greatest bargains witnessed. A player of the potential of Haaland would have normally demanded a fee of around £150m or so. Julian Alvarez was actually signed in January but will make his debut from River Plate this season and he is also being tipped to be a fantastic centre forward. Kalvin Phillips has been signed from Leeds for £42m representing a fantastic price for an English international.
Despite the signings some pundits have been critical of how Guardiola has let some other players leave the club for Premier League rivals. Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have both joined Arsenal and Raheem Sterling is at Chelsea, both clubs are expected to be a top four rival this season.
Pre-season was limited to just two games in the USA with a 2-1 win over America and more important a 1-0 victory against Bayern Munich. In their first competitive match of the season City lost 3-1 in the Community Shield against Liverpool, though not too many observers are taking that game seriously and the real football kicks off this weekend.
Team News:
West Ham: The Hammers just have one player out although it is their new signing Nayef Aguerd who has an ankle injury and he could miss the rest of the month.
Manchester City: Aymeric Laporte has been ruled out for 3-4 weeks of the new season and he has had surgery on his knee.
West Ham vs Man City Head to Head:
Last season this fixture finished 2-2.
It’s been nearly seven years since West Ham beat Manchester City in the league either home or away.
4 of the last 5 meetings has seen both teams to score.
West Ham vs Man City Prediction:
West Ham have got some really good results against the better sides normally expected to beat them when playing at home in the last few seasons. We expect the Hammers to be very strong and not be afraid to come forward. Even in the reverse fixture last season the club did very well and only lost 2-1. Perhaps the days of getting battered by City are over but of course with the quality that City has the danger is always there.
This is a very difficult first game for City to navigate and while they have the better team this won’t be easy for them. We do however expect them to get all three points this weekend. All eyes will be on Haaland, and considering his scoring rate, we think the value is pretty good on him scoring in this game.
West Ham vs Man City Betting Tips:
Asian handicap (-1 Man City) at 1.55
Anytime goalscorer: Erling Haaland at 1.75
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