Manchester City Match Preview

West Ham United have already visited Manchester this month and took a point back to East London with them. Can they do the same this afternoon as they travel to The Etihad Stadium and face Manchester City? That is the aim, as they look to bounce back from Aston Villa’s late comeback last weekend.

After they were thrown into the relegation zone for the second time this season back on 3 December, the Hammers have been trying to climb out ever since but due to their inability to see out matches recently, they haven’t been able to do so and chances are that luck will go against them again here, as Josep Guardiola’s men have won six out of their last seven encounters, ironically dating back to 26 October and a 1-0 reverse away from home at the hands of Aston Villa.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s side are on a run of five games without a win and this is probably the last place that they wanted to head to, when they need some success.

On the plus side though, they have had a full week to prepare since that loss to Unai Emery’s side, whereas their hosts were involved in a Carabao Cup quarter-final tie against Brentford just three days ago.

The festive period is usually a busy time in the Premier League calendar but it’s a little different this year, as teams have a week to prepare between pre-and post-Christmas matches.

The Irons’ Head-Coach opted to make two changes against the Villains but this weekend he will be forced into alterations, due to the absences of both Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf, as the pair joined their countries ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations. However, it seems that the Portuguese has a plan. He stated in the pre-match news conference ahead of facing the Citizens on Thursday that youngster Oliver Scarles and Kyle Walker-Peters are options to replace the duo. Scarles hasn’t featured since being replaced during the first-half of the 2-1 defeat to newly-promoted Leeds United at Elland Road back on 24 October, due to a broken collarbone but returned to the matchday squad after eight weeks, as an unused substitute six days ago.

On the other hand, Walker-Peters has not started a single match since the 2-0 home defeat to Brentford back on 20 October. Niclas Füllkrug could also be back involved after not featuring since the defeat to Liverpool back on 30 November.

The match is a 3pm kick-off and the referee is Paul Tierney.