Manchester City will be desperate to get their Premier League title bid back on track when they face West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday night.
City sit second in the table after drawing 2-2 at home to Nottingham Forest in their last Premier League outing.
That setback, coupled with Arsenal’s victory at Brighton, has left the Citizens seven points adrift at the summit heading into the final stretch of the season.
Pep Guardiola’s side have since had mixed fortunes in the cup competitions, winning 3-1 away to Newcastle in the FA Cup before losing 3-0 at Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 first leg.
As for West Ham, they are showing plenty of fighting spirit in their battle for Premier League survival, with the Hammers claiming a 1–0 win away at Fulham last midweek, in a match that brought up both of my recommended selections.
Nuno Espirito Santo then saw the feel-good factor continue on Monday night, as his side edged past Brentford on penalties to book their place in the last eight of the FA Cup.
The Hammers have also lost just two of their last eight Premier League games and now sit 18th in the table, level on points with 17th-placed Nottingham Forest. But they have a poor record against Manchester City and lost 3-0 at the Etihad in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
Predicted line-ups
West Ham’s FA Cup triumph at Brentford on Monday night came at a cost, with in-form forward Crysencio Summerville picking up an injury that is likely to sideline him alongside Lukasz Fabianski.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola is almost certain to freshen things up after Wednesday night’s sobering setback in the Spanish capital, though he will be without injured pair Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic, while Rico Lewis is rated as doubtful.
West Ham: Hermansen; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Disasi, Diouf; Fernandes, Magassa, Soucek; Bowen, Pablo, Castellanos
Man City: Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Rodri, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Cherki; Semenyo, Haaland
Pep Guardiola conceded Manchester City‘s hopes of regaining the Premier League title will be over if they do not beat West Ham. Arsenal’s lead could be 10 points by the time City kick off, with the Gunners kicking off against Everton earlier. Guardiola believes the game in hand and their home game with Arsenal will be immaterial should City fail to take all three points at the London Stadium.
