We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at London Stadium with our West Ham vs Man City prediction and preview. Will the champions make it three wins from three?
West Ham vs Man City Stats: The Key Insights
- Man City are huge favourites to win, with the Opta supercomputer rating their chances at 64.3%.
- Pep Guardiola has lost none of his 16 Premier League meetings with West Ham.
- The Hammers have conceded at least once in each of their last 10 Premier League home games.
Manchester City will look to continue their excellent start to their Premier League title defence on Saturday when they go up against West Ham at London Stadium.
City swatted aside Ipswich Town last time out, after overcoming Chelsea in their opening fixture.
With famous fans Liam and Noel Gallagher having put aside their differences to reform Oasis, it has been a week of reunions for those associated with City after Ilkay Gündogan made a comeback of his own in Saturday’s win over Ipswich. The big question over the team selection now is whether Guardiola will get the German back into his starting XI this weekend.
Some might say there is no need for changes, though, given how well City have started the season, and the form of Erling Haaland up top is especially frightful.
Haaland, who has already netted four times in City’s opening two matches, has scored 16 goals in 10 Premier League appearances in August, averaging a goal every 52 minutes, the best minutes-per-goal ratio by a player in a particular month in Premier League history (min. 500 minutes played).
West Ham’s defence have their work cut out, then, especially when you consider that the Hammers have conceded at least once in each of their last 10 Premier League home games, last having a longer run without a clean sheet between April and December 2009 (12).
That being said, Julen Lopetegui’s team have been giving it a good go in attack. Only Liverpool and Nottingham Forest (37 each) have had more shots than West Ham (32) in the opening two Premier League games this season. However, only three sides (Everton, Southampton and Ipswich) have had fewer attempts on target than the Hammers (six).
The champions are unbeaten in 21 Premier League games in 2024 (W18 D3), their longest unbeaten run from the start of a calendar year in league history. Overall, they are unbeaten in 25 Premier League games, winning the last 11 in a row.
If West Ham are to keep the dream of beating City alive, then they will likely rely on Jarrod Bowen, who has been involved in 10 goals in his last 12 Premier League games (six goals, four assists), while he was also the last Hammer to score a brace against Man City (2-2 in May 2022).
There is also Michail Antonio to consider, though. The striker has been involved in 99 Premier League goals for West Ham (67 goals, 32 assists), and could be the first player to reach 100 for the club. Five of these goals have come against Man City (three goals, two assists), with Antonio having a hand in more against four clubs (Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Liverpool and Watford).
West Ham vs Man City Head-to-Head
Man City have lost none of their 16 Premier League meetings with West Ham under Guardiola (W14 D2). It is the joint-most times a manager has faced a specific opponent without ever losing in the competition’s history (Alex Ferguson vs Charlton also 16).
City have scored more away goals against West Ham than they have against any other opponent in the Premier League (42). Meanwhile, their 25 goals at the London Stadium is the most an away team has scored at a specific venue in the Premier League since its opening in 2016-17.
West Ham are winless in their last 17 Premier League meetings with City (D3 L14) since a 2-1 away win in September 2015. Indeed, City have lost just one of their last 14 away league games against the Hammers (W8 D5), and are unbeaten in their last nine visits since a 2-1 loss at Upton Park in October 2014.
West Ham vs Man City Prediction
While West Ham have invested heavily to back Lopetegui, it is fair to say these teams are still half the world away when it comes to resources, and our model is backing Man City, giving them a 64.3% chance of victory.
West Ham’s win probability is rated at 16.2%, with the draw a threat at 19.5%.
West Ham vs Man City Predicted Lineups
West Ham: Alphonse Areola, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Max Kilman, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Emerson, Guido Rodríguez, Tomás Soucek, Lucas Paquetá, Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus, Niclas Füllkrug.
Manchester City: Ederson, Manuel Akanji, Rúben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis, Ilkay Gündogan, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Savinho, Jérémy Doku, Erling Haaland.
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
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