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Manchester City vs. West Ham United: EPL Match Preview, & Prediction
Manchester City will host West Ham United on Saturday afternoon at the Etihad Stadium in an effort to continue their Premier League comeback, which began at the end of 2024 and will continue into 2025.
After a tumultuous year, the defending champions managed to pull off a 2-0 victory against Leicester City. Just hours later, Liverpool, who were running wild, thrashed their visitors 5-0 at home.
Previous Matches and Head-to-head
Despite the lack of holiday happiness in the blue half of Manchester, Pep Guardiola had cause to celebrate a historic occasion at the King Power Stadium. His 500th game as Man City manager concluded with a long-overdue triumph.
Ruud van Nistelrooy's Foxes couldn't withstand Man City's first win in five matches across all competitions and their first away victory in over two months, thanks to Savinho's first Premier League goal and Erling Haaland's second-half header.
The champions-in-crisis had a tough road winless streak of eight games (losing seven of those matches) before their King Power success. Still, Guardiola's players are back in the Premier League's top six with only a single victory in fourteen matches across all competitions.
Although the Catalan coach has already put an end to any possibility of a miraculous championship recovery, and Man City still has a ways to go before they can even be considered for the Champions League in 2025–26, the hosts usually come out on top on New Year's Day.
The Citizens have won their last twelve league matches in a row, dating back to 2012, when they were shocked by Southampton. Guardiola's team has won all eight of his Premier League home matches against West Ham.
West Ham may begin 2025 with an unwelcome chapter in club history if they are unable to end their 18-game Premier League losing skid against Manchester City. The Hammers have never gone 19 games without a league victory against a single opponent.
Irons fans may recall an 18-game losing streak against Liverpool in the late 20th century. Coincidentally, on December 29, Liverpool made quick work of Julen Lopetegui's squad thanks to five goals scored by various players.
A slew of Hammers players—including Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, and Trent Alexander-Arnold—contributed to the team's humbling defeat. Despite the setback, the Hammers maintain a respectable eight-point lead over the relegation zone.
The visitors let in five goals in their 5-0 thrashing of the league leaders, making them the side with the most Premier League goals surrendered in 2024 (79). Speaking of vulnerable defenses, West Ham has lost every one of their past 24 matches against Manchester City in the league.
Despite Man City's problems this season, a recurrence of their eight-goal extravaganza at the Etihad is undoubtedly just a far-fetched fantasy. West Ham last went 25 league games without a shutout against a particular opponent against Sunderland in 45 years from 1923 to 1968, before destroying the Black Cats 8-0 to end the sequence.
Manchester City x West Ham United Team News
Guardiola will definitely be without Rodri (ACL), Oscar Bobb (leg), and Ruben Dias (muscle) for Man City's visit to the Irons, leaving three players in question.
Matheus Nunes (ankle), John Stones (foot), and Ederson (ankle) are all still questionable for the Citizens' next match. Meanwhile, Citizens substituted Nathan Ake with Kyle Walker, who returned from sickness, for the last 20 minutes at King Power Stadium.
No break for the rejuvenated Haaland up front just yet, as Guardiola should start his best possible team against Salford City in the FA Cup third round on January 11 before making a slew of changes.
In West Ham's most recent defeat to Liverpool, Jarrod Bowen was replaced with a foot fracture, which has now been confirmed. This injury added insult to injury, keeping him out of play for the near future.
In better and more encouraging news, Michail Antonio has been freed from the hospital a few weeks after his awful automobile accident, but it will be some time before he is given the green light to play again; Niclas Fullkrug should thus lead the visitors' assault.
While Tomas Soucek and Guido Rodriguez are all available to Lopetegui after serving bans, Lukasz Fabianski is still sidelined with a concussion he suffered in the victory against Southampton.
Our Predictions
Manchester City to win and over 2.5 goals @ 1.54 on Sky247.ng
West Ham is without Bowen; they are missing their primary offensive threat while playing away from home in the Premier League. The ex-Hull City player has scored 16 goals and assisted on eight others since the beginning of last season.
Man City, who have been rejuvenated and are poised to win back-to-back games since October, should easily defeat Lopetegui's men, especially considering how poor their defensive performance was against Liverpool.
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