Manchester City are starting an important run of fixtures with a game every 4 days
There are a number of interesting side stories in our game against West Ham United. There is the return of Manuel Pelligrini – potentially to haunt – Manchester City following his reign as our manager. The problem with that story though is that this is a returning manager without any needle. He was pretty well liked by the fans and Club and his departure was well sign posted as City planned for Guardiola.
The second side story is likely to tug more at the heart strings of Manchester City fans. This is the story of Pablo Zabaleta and his long goodbye. Zaba is well loved for his displays for us, where he literally gave blood for points. It is widely expected he will retire at the end of the season and this may even be the last time we get to see him in action.
Notwithstanding all of this there is the small matter of a match of football where a resurgent West Ham who seem to be finding a formation and some form come up against a City side full of confidence and riding high after the derby victory. I always have concerns following the international break. I always worry – will we retrieve our momentum?
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Of course those doubts are eased slightly by the knowledge that Guardiola is our manager and our side always seem to have the intensity just about right. What we do know is that Kevin De Bruyne is injured so will be unlikely to feature as part of the squad, Mendy is out for several weeks and that Bernardo Silva is being assessed for an injury sustained on International duty.
I believe City will play to their own strengths and go with a 4-3-3 formation which has served them well. The absence of Mendy will allow Leroy Sane to be deployed and I believe Sterling will occupy the other flank. Fernandinho and David Silva will resume their usual roles in midfield and i expect they will be joined by Ilkay Gundogan.
Guardiola will seek to keep some of his powder dry for the Lyon away game on Tuesday. So I consider the only concern will be whether he starts with his first choice centre back pairing of John Stones and Aymeric Laporte or decides to play a more physical player to counteract the threat of Arnautovic. I hope Guardiola doesn’t second guess and instead just plays our strongest side.
This should be an entertaining game, where West Ham United will seek to capitalise on counter attacking. The result will ultimately depend upon whether City take their chances or not.
Predicted Starting XI
Goalkeeper
Ederson
Defenders
Kyle Walker, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Fabian Delph
Midfield
Fernandinho, David Silva, Ilkay Gundogan
Attackers
Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling