England Premier League
Saturday 10th August 2019
Kick off at 12.30pm BST
Venue: Olympic Stadium
Match Preview:
The champions of England, Manchester City will kick start their defence in London when they visit West Ham and will be the odds on favourites to get off to the best possible start.
At one point during the window it seemed that City were being unusually quiet but deals for Rodri and Joao Cancelo who cost over £120m have made up for that. Pre season was good for the club even if they did lose the Asia Trophy to Wolves when they beat City on penalties. In the same competition played only last month City destroyed West Ham 4-1, although as always it is hard to look into friendlies too seriously.
West Ham have also been active in the market and have brought in some exciting attacking players in the form of Pablo Fornals and Sebastian Haller. Haller impressed last season with German outfit Eintract Frankfurt in the Europa League as the club went all the way to the semi-finals.
In some ways this is a new dawn for West Ham as Manuel Pellegrini has become part of the club as he enters another season and now has the players that he really wants. As for City it only seems weeks ago that they had their epic league battle with Liverpool, and one wonders if there will potentially be any hangover.
Team News:
West Ham: Mark Noble is out with a dead leg, he is currently the only injury concern for the Hammers
Manchester City: Aymeric Laporte missed the Community Shield and could be a doubt for this match with a knock. Benjamin Mendy will almost certainly miss this match and could be out for the rest of the month with his knee. Leroy Sane is expected to be out for around 6-7 months through injury.
West Ham vs Man City Head to Head:
Manchester City have beaten West Ham 8 games in a row.
West Ham have not beaten City at home since 2014.
In 9 from the last 10 games there has been over 2.5 goals.
West Ham vs Man City Prediction:
West Ham have an appalling record against Manchester City and it looks unlikely that anything will change here. Although the Hammers do at least have something to their advantage which is they are playing at home, this is the beginning of the season and they have less to lose than the champions.
Having said that City have no fears and would have been boosted by their victory over Liverpool in the Community Shield even if it was only by penalties. It’s all about that winning feeling for the club and manager Guardiola.
City are big odds on favourites and West Ham can be backed at around 11.00 for the win. Let’s take a look back at last season, opening day when City had to travel to a stronger team in Arsenal and came away winning 2-0. That should tell us a lot and whilst West Ham will certainly play a part in this game, City look like they will simply be too strong for them.
West Ham vs Man City Betting Tips:
Anytime goalscorer: Raheem Sterling at 1.91
Over 2.5 goals at 1.44
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