Tomorrow sees West Ham United host Manchester City in a match that might end up being more competitive and even strenght than the bookmakers seem to believe it will be. The Hammers achieved a thrill this past Sunday, rallying from being down 3-0 very early to Tottenham Hotspur, and getting their scoring very late to come away with a draw.
On Saturday, Irons boss David Moyes will be waiting on the fitness issues to two key players- Michail Antonio and Sebastien Haller. Both are doubts with knocks.
Manchester City at West Ham United FYIs
Kickoff: Sat, Oct 24, 12:30 BST
City starting XI prediction: go to this link
Odds: West Ham +650, draw +420, Man City -275
The team news for City is considerably different, and not in a good way. Fernandinho suffered a leg muscle injury relapse on Wednesday, and now the Brazilian midfielder could be out for four to six weeks. The good news however is the return of both Kevin De Bruyne and Aymeric Laporte to training. They could be in line to feature. One player who remains out is Gabriel Jesus, while Benjamin Mendy is also likely to miss.
Nathan Ake could be a last minute decision, with Oleksandr Zinchenko primed to feature, having been named to the bench against Porto.
As has been well documented, City have been ravaged by injuries in the final third. So they have to get goals wherever they can, and sometimes you even have wingers playing in a more central forward position. Two other contributors to the attack are Phil Foden and Ferran Torres, and their link-up has been praised by manager Pep Guardiola.
“It was an incredible combination from Phil and Ferran. Ferran has an incredible sense of goal,” Guardiola said of the Foden-Torres partnership.
“The most satisfying thing was the way they came in. Always the people who come from the bench are so important. We did a perfect performance. It was an incredible performance from us against a really tough team.”
“It is nice to win games suffering against a really good team. I am so pleased with the last two games. Short recovery and then we go to London.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.