Man City v West Ham- Preview, Predictions, and Best Bets

Man City host West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Pep Guardiola’s side was superb in midweek in beating PSG 2-1 whilst West Ham lost their last league match at Wolves before a win at Rapid Vienna on Thursday. City has a superb record against the Hammers under Guardiola with nine wins and a draw in ten matches.

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Man City Form

Since fighting back to draw 2-2 at Liverpool in October, City has won four of their last five Premier League matches. They beat Burnley 2-0 at home, won 4-1 at Brighton, cruised 2-0 past Man Utd at Old Trafford, and beat Everton 3-0.

That run also saw a shock 2-0 home loss to Crystal Palace. In midweek, they came from a goal down to beat PSG 2-1 as Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus netted the goals. Their last three Champions League matches have brought three wins and 11 goals.

Man City Team News

City remains without winger Ferran Torres and midfielder Kevin De Bruyne for this match. Attackers Phil Foden and Jack Grealish are both injury doubts and are expected to miss out or sub at best.

A little rotation is possible with Aymeric Laporte perhaps stepping in for John Stones at center back whilst Fernandinho will hope for minutes in the midfield holding role. Gabriel Jesus should start after his winner in midweek with Oleks Zinchenko most likely to drop to the bench in that case. Young attacker Cole Palmer will hope to get some minutes.

Man City Motivation

City has just come off a massive midweek match. They will need to focus themselves to avoid dropping points to a dangerous opponent.

Guardiola’s side won’t change tactics and will look to dominate possession whilst keeping enough men back in rest defence to guard against West Ham’s counters.

West Ham Form

West Ham sits fourth having had a fine season so far. They lost 2-1 at home to both Man Utd and Brentford but followed that with four league wins in a row including at Everton and Aston Villa and home to Spurs and Liverpool (3-2), ending their 20 matches unbeaten league run.

Their last league match saw a proper off day after the international break as they produced a paltry 0.4 xG in losing 1-0 at Wolves. They bounced back to win 2-0 at Rapid Vienna on Thursday to ensure a top spot in their Europa League group.

West Ham Team News

West Ham is without knee injury victim Angelo Ogbonna in defence. Craig Dawson will cover alongside Kurt Zouma, who was rested in midweek. Declan Rice and Michail Antonio were rested completely in Vienna and will start.

In the league, West Ham has a very settled XI in a 4-2-3-1 shape. The only question mark is over right back and whether Ben Johnson or Vladimir Coufal get the nod. The latter may start after Johnson played in the loss at Wolves.

West Ham Motivation

Having beaten Liverpool this season in a fine counter-attacking performance, West Ham will have a belief that they can get a result at Man City. Expect a fairly attacking display but also stages of the match where they absorb pressure on hit Antonio and Bowen on the counter-attack for their speed.

David Moyes will have seen Crystal Palace’s display to win at the Etihad and try to mirror that setup and application.

Key Stats

Man City have won 9/10 PL matches against West Ham under Guardiola (D1)

City have conceded just 6 goals in 12 PL matches

West Ham have scored just 5 goals in their last 10 PL matches against Man City

City have scored 28 goals in their last 10 PL matches vs West Ham

WHU haven’t lost consecutive PL matches since April

WHU have lost 1 of their last 9 away PL matches (W6, D2)

WHU have scored 22 goals in their last 11 away PL matches

Verdict

City has a great record against West Ham but the visitors are excellent on their travels and carry a big attacking threat. I am tipping them to score against City but the hosts have enough to win the match.

Best Bet: Both teams to score at 1.90
Value Bet: Man City win and both teams to score at 2.80
Correct Score Tip: Man City 2-1 West Ham at 10.25