England Premier League
Saturday 24th October 2020
Kick off at 12:30pm BST
Venue: London Stadium
Match Preview:
To some West Ham fans they looked at how they started the season with a toothless loss against Newcastle and envisaged that they could well have no points by the time they faced Manchester City five games later. However the Hammers have stepped up, they have responded, and actually they have looked like a half decent team. Certainly not one on this form that will be battling any relegation dog fights.
On the face of it this fixture has an away win written all over it, but West Ham have put in some brilliant performances in beating Wolves 4-0, Leicester 3-0 and coming back from 3-0 down against Tottenham last weekend with less than ten minutes remaining and scoring three goals themselves. They can’t simply be brushed aside in any preview of this game and must be respected.
As for their league standing David Moyes side come into this game in 9th place and are only six points behind league leaders Everton and two points from 5th place. There are goals in the team and they have stuck 10 of them past their last three opponents. Facing Manchester City is an obvious step up but the Hammers will come into this encounter with a lot of confidence.
Manchester City haven’t started the way they would have wanted but they have put a couple of very good results together in their last few games and will fancy their chances at the weekend.
A 1-0 victory over a good and organised Arsenal team felt like a 4-0 win simply for the fact that City kept a clean sheet against a dangerous and much improved side under Mikel Arteta this season. That game was followed by a 3-1 win over Porto in the Champions League in midweek and manager Pep Guardiola will be hoping that his side are starting to find their stride. They had a boost in the Arsenal game too by welcoming back striker Sergio Aguero who wasn’t due to come back until the end of the month.
It’s still odd to see City in 11th place but they have a game in hand over most of the league and if they win that they would in theory be in 4th place and we should remember they have lost just once so far this season.
Team News:
West Ham: Michail Antonio has a slight strain but should be fine for this game. Sebastian Haller is due back from a recent knock that saw him miss the Spurs game.
Manchester City: Nathan Ake missed the clubs Champions League fixture with a slight groin strain but he is being tipped to return for this game. Kevin De Bruyne is back in training after missing the Arsenal game and will face a late test to see if he can make this one, currently he is 50/50. Fernandino has a muscle injury and he could be out for between 4-6 weeks. Aymeric Laporte has a muscle injury and is only 50/50 to make this game. Benjamin Mendy has a muscle injury and has been ruled out for at least four weeks. Gabriel Jesus is a long term injury with his thigh and isn’t expected to return until possibly December.
West Ham vs Man City Head to Head:
Last season this fixture ended 5-0 to Manchester City.
Manchester City have won the last 8 league meetings in a row.
West Ham have not beaten Manchester City at home since 2014.
There is an 80% chance to see over 2.5 goals.
West Ham vs Man City Prediction:
Despite losing 5-0 last time they met at this stadium West Ham do up their games when they meet the top six. Not many people fancied their chances to get points in the last few games and they have proved many people wrong.
Manchester City come into this game with some injury worries but they have such a strong squad it shouldn’t affect them too much. They were able to beat Arsenal without De Bruyne who may be missing for this game. However City are probably not scoring enough goals at present and West Ham will have their chances on goal. We expect a very good game and a fighting performance from West Ham who only lost 2-0 last season in the away fixture.
City should win but having said that it doesn’t mean we need to back them when they are carrying some injuries, are the away team, and their price is around 1.44. That doesn’t represent much value so we will look into different markets.
West Ham vs Man City Betting Tips:
Both teams to score at 1.57
Anytime goalscorer: Raheem Sterling at 1.91
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