West Ham-Manchester City is a match valid for the fifth day of the Premier League and is played on Saturday at 4 pm: TV, formations, predictions.
Manchester City 12, West Ham 10. But while seeing the Citizens on full points is no surprise, it does have some effect to find the Hammers in second place, with the same points as battleships like Liverpool and Arsenal.
The Londoners, unlike last year, got off to the best start they could: after a draw on the opener with Bournemouth (1-1), three consecutive victories came, two of them against Chelsea and Brighton. In the last round before the break, however, West Ham had won over newly promoted Luton Town (1-2), suffering more than expected. The ten points won out of twelve available, at any rate, make coach David Moyes happy, who perhaps did not expect such a storming start from his men, especially after the loss of a locker room leader like Declan Rice, who moved to Arsenal in the summer. The Hammers are scoring with some consistency (9 goals, fewer only than City, Tottenham and Brighton) but at the same time they struggle to keep their goal inviolate: so far they have never managed it. Not a good sign ahead of the challenge with Pep Guardiola’s all-time champions, fresh off a bombastic 5-1 win at Fulham.
Manchester City for now does not give the slightest impression of being satiated and this is confirmed by the four wins in a row, five if we also consider the success on penalties with Sevilla in the match that awarded the European Super Cup.
Moyes
If we really wanted to find the infamous nit in the egg, the Citizens’ defense, after their first two clean sheets, was drilled by both Sheffield United and Fulham. At the London Stadium Guardiola could debut one of his new signings, who arrived in the last days of the market: he is former Wolverhampton Matheus Nunes. In West Ham, on the other hand, former Stuttgart center back Mavropanos from Greece is pushing for a starting shirt.
The Prediction
West Ham has barely beaten Manchester City once in the past seven years and is unlikely to reverse the trend on this occasion, against a battleship that appears even hungrier than last year. It cannot be ruled out, however, that the Hammers will score at least one goal in the London Stadium match, holding their own against the Citizens.
The probable lineups of West Ham-Manchester City
- WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Areola; Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson Palmieri; Ward-Prowse, E. Alvarez; Bowen, Paquetà, Benrahma; Antonio.
- MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker, Ruben Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol; Rodri, Matheus Nunes; Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez, Foden; Haaland.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2
