Manchester City should enjoy themselves on Saturday afternoon, despite all their injury concerns.
The Citizens will be heading to the London Stadium in the early game of the weekend; a stadium that they have managed to have huge success at over the years.
However, Pep Guardiola’s side will need to watch out for complacency as West Ham United are no pushovers and perhaps showed what happens when a team takes their foot off the gas before the final whistle in their epic comeback draw with Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.
Man City love the London Stadium
As mentioned, Manchester City appear to enjoy their travels to east London and the former Olympic Stadium.
The Citizens have managed to win each of their last five matches at the venue against the Hammers and have managed to outscore the Irons 22-1 over that period. Those that like football betting could look to pick some easy winnings if they were to place a bet on this particular game.
After a couple of disappointing results, the Etihad Stadium outfit restored order to proceedings following the international break as they managed to defeat Arsenal and then beat FC Porto in their UEFA Champions League opener on Wednesday.
Guardiola has injuries to deal with
The encounter with West Ham United could be anything but straightforward, though, despite their recent record.
Guardiola has a number of injury concerns that he could be forced to contend with ahead of the game that could make life on the pitch difficult.
Men like Kevin De Bruyne, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake, Benjamin Mendy and Fernandinho are all doubtful. The first four men missed the tie against FC Porto in mid-week, whereas the Brazilian managed just 10 minutes or so before he was forced to leave the field. He came on as an 85th-minute substitute but needed replacing in stoppage time.
However, the recent return of Sergio Aguero will have been welcomed by Manchester City and Guardiola as they had been without a recognised striker for a significant period of time following Gabriel Jesus’ own spell on the treatment table.
Sterling’s impressive record
Raheem Sterling is one individual that certainly enjoys this fixture and is just one reason as to why the visitors have an excellent record when playing at the London Stadium.
The England international has managed to be directly involved in 11 goals in his last six Premier League starts against West Ham, which also includes a hat-trick in the same fixture last season.
