Citizens crushed Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-1 in midweek, while David Moyes’ side also beat Norwich City by four goals last time out.
Team News
West Ham
- West Ham was far from unscathed in their hammering of Norwich, as Benrahma, Craig Dawson, and Antonio were all forced off with injuries at Carrow Road.
- The hosts are positive about Dawson and Antonio’s chances of being declared fit. However, Benrahma will need to be evaluated further, while Angelo Ogbonna will be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
- Should Moyes be without any of the trio, Ben Johnson, Andriy Yarmolenko, and Nikola Vlasic are all on standby, while Issa Diop should be well enough to return to the matchday squad.
Manchester City
- With Kyle Walker, John Stones, and Ruben Dias already gone for the season, it’s Guardiola’s time to deal with a slew of absentees.
- Aymeric Laporte and substitute centre-back Fernandinho were both forced out with knee and hamstring injuries on Wednesday. This means Guardiola will be severely hampered at the back this week if they do not heal soon enough.
- Nathan Ake’s recovery from an ankle injury has been a huge boost for City, and the Dutchman might be paired with Rodri unless Guardiola opts for CJ Egan-Riley or Luke Mbete.
- Guardiola can afford to drop Rodri slightly deeper because to the visitors’ plenty of attacking options, with Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus both set to return to the attack.
Prediction Analysis
West Ham’s habit of scoring in every home game this season seems unlikely to come to an end against a devastated City defense, however, a Rodri-Ake duo is far from unbreakable.
The champs’ forte has been putting games to bed and taking opportunities when they come, and we can only imagine Guardiola’s relentless attackers driving his team further closer to the Premier League title with another goal-laden performance.
Our prediction is West Ham 1-3 Manchester City
Possible Lineup
West Ham: Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals; Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell;
Manchester City: Ederson; Cancelo, Rodri, Ake, Zinchenko; Silva, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling;