West Ham United have been very fortunate, having played the early part of the season with no injury concerns at all. Ahead of the Man City clash on Saturday, they emerged unscathed once again tonight, having bested AFC Bournemouth 1-0 in the EFL Cup.
The old cliche “it’s better to be lucky than good” certainly applies to the Irons, in their League Cup triumph.
Man City at West Ham FYIs
Kickoff: Sat. Aug 31, 5:30pm, London Stadium
Starting XI Predictions Man City West Ham United
Team News: Man City West Ham United
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
PL Position, Form: Man City 1st, 6 pts, WW West Ham 9th, 3 pts, LW
Google Result Probability: Man City 68% Draw 18% West Ham 14%
Mohammed Kudus’s 88th-minute game winner first went off the arm of Jarrod Bowen, before it went into the net. Replays showed this, quite clearly but with Video Assistant Referee technology not being uses for the earlier rounds of this competition, their was no VAR check and the goal stood.
That’s pretty rough for the Cherries, who also saw the V.A.R. go against them on Sunday, as it ruled out what would have been a stoppage-time winner in the league against Newcastle.
Eventually, you have to think the south coast club will get some luck to finally go their way. As for West Ham, they’ll need luck, and skill and talent, in order to try and get the best of reigning champions Man City
West Ham Starting XI Prediction
Alphonse Areola; Vladimir Coufal, Max Kilman, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Aaron Wan-Bissaka; Lucas Paqueta; Tomas Soucek, James Ward-Prowse, Edson Alvarez, Jarrod Bowen; Mohammed Kudus
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.