Manchester City vs West Ham: Preview, Team News, Previous Meeting and Prediction
01/03/2025 09:35 PM
A great matchup to get right and make it two W's in a row!
Manchester City face a complicated away match vs West Ham! Match day is here and City should be ready and roaring to go.
The Premier League is off to the races and City continue the fourth straight defense of the crown.
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England
Time and Date: Saturday 4 January 2025, Kickoff at 15:00 GMT, 10.00 am EST, USA
Referee: Michael Salisbury.
Assistants: Eddie Smart, Derek Eaton.
Fourth official: Oli Langford.
VAR: Graham Scott.
Assistant VAR: Scott Ledger.
TV Info: SKY SPORTS (UK), Peacock/USA Network/Universo (USA), DAZN (Canada), Hotstar VIP (India), Paramount+ (Mexico), SuperSport (Nigeria)
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Preview + Form
A tricky match up, and seeing the form of these clubs, one would back some sort of resurgence by City here. However, this could be the second win for City, who need more results in the worst of ways.
For the Hammers, this is a real tricky spot as they have a motivated side in front of them and are a decent in form team in themselves.
The key battle will be the forwards chosen vs a their defense. An interesting match up is in tow. Who will play?
Which team will come out in front? We are in store for a fun match.
Previous Meeting
The last home encounter with West Ham secured history for the Club, as our 3-1 win meant we became the first ever men's team to win four Premier League titles in a row.
Phil Foden took just 79 seconds to fire us into the lead before doubling our advantage when he turned in Jeremy Doku's pinpoint cross in the 18th minute.
West Ham's Mohammed Kudus pulled a goal back with a stunning overhead kick just before half-time before Rodrigo's elegant finish restored our two-goal lead.
It secured the 10th top-flight title in our history and sixth in seven seasons.
Pep Guardiola Preview
"The first call is for myself first. I'm unbelievably honest with myself," Pep told media at his pre-match press conference.
"I know the reason we arrive and the main reason, it's me. It's not the players.
"The players naturally will drop a little bit, it's normal. It even happened last season as well.
"With this consistency, I should've found something different and it didn't happen which is why we're in this position. My blame.
"It's not to say how nice is Pep. No, it's the truth. I lead that group of players and I can't lift them so far. This is the reality and why in the past they follow me or not follow me.
"[For] one and a half, two months, we were the only unbeaten team in England and Europe. We were top of the league and immediately we were down.
"It happens, but I was not able to - for injuries, for many things, we talk about that.
"Even with that, I should've found a way to get better results.
"Hopefully we can continue now with what we started in Leicester - performing better."
Team News
City's side have an unavailable/questionable list of Rodri, Ederson, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Ederson, Matheus Nunes & Oscar Bobb who are out or doubtful.
The Hammers have Fabianksi, Bowen and Antonio out/doubtful.
Prediction
Manchester City 3-1 West Ham
