Manchester City v West Ham United: The opposition

Manchester City face their biggest and possibly toughest task of the season as they welcome West Ham to the Etihad Stadium. Victory for the Blues will see the Premier League title stay in Manchester, while a draw or defeat will open the door for Arsenal to snatch the title.

While West Ham will finish the season in 9th position, the Blues will need to guard against complacency when they take to the pitch on Sunday afternoon. Memories of Aston Villa taking a 2-0 lead at the Etihad two years ago will be fresh in the mind, despite City coming back to win the match in style. But the faithful will be hoping for no such drama this time around, as any slip-up will almost certainly hand Mikel Arteta’s side the title.

Form

The Hammers secured a place in ninth by beating Luton Town 3-1 last weekend, ending a six-match winless run.

Away from home, they have won seven and lost nine of their 28 away games at the London Stadium. They conceded five away on three occasions at Fulham, Crystal Palace and Chelsea and also lost 5-1 at Liverpool in the League Cup.

They also have the third-worst away defense in the league, conceding 43 goals on their travels and haven’t kept a clean sheet away from home this year. The last time they stopped a home team from scoring was at the end of December. On that occasion, they beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates, so they are more than capable of getting a result against the Champions League sides. However, this was only their third clean sheet of the season and the only time they have not conceded in the Championship away from home this season.

The Hammers also failed to score on just four occasions, proving they are a real threat in front of goal. David Moyes’ side have scored 28 times away from home and have a goal difference of -15 heading into Sunday’s game.

Danger Men

Jarrod Bowen has been on fire for West Ham this season with 20 goals to his name and City will no doubt be aware of the threat he poses. Bowen has attempted 83 shots, the most in the side, has a goal conversion rate of 24% and a shot accuracy rating of 57%. This is enhanced by two other first-team regulars – Michail Antonio (61%) and James Ward-Prowse (59%). Ward-Prowse scored 7 in his debut season at West Ham, as did Antonio. However, the former played more (50) than the latter (31).

Bowen’s latest goal was the opener in a 2-2 home draw with Liverpool, while his last away goal at the London Stadium came in a 4-3 defeat at Newcastle in March.

Mohammed Kudus is the Hammers’ second top scorer with 13 and Tomás Soucek has 10. Rumored City target Lucas Paquetá has only contributed nine so far. Spare a thought for George Earthy and Aaron Cresswell though. Both have one goal each and have only attempted one shot, giving them a 100% accuracy and goal conversion rate.

Ward-Prowse has slotted in well in the Hammers midfield and is currently the man with the assists. He created 82 chances for teammates, of which 11 were taken. He attempted the most passes with 2,093, of which 1,887 were converted. This gives it a very impressive passing accuracy rating of 90%. Bowen has ten assists while Paqueta has seven, although he has created the second most chances on the team with 49.

Keep an eye on Ben Johnson if he plays. The defender made 22 appearances for the Hammers and created one chance, which was taken.

head

The man who started Manchester United’s demise in 2013, David Moyes, will take charge of his final game for West Ham. He joined the club as manager in December 2019 and has since taken them to Europe, winning the Conference League just days before City’s Champions League victory, making it an English European double for the two teams with the best of two sets of supporters from the country.

In his second spell at the London Stadium, Moyes took charge of 230 matches and won 103 and lost 82, giving him a 45% win percentage.

Last time

City visited the London Stadium in September and fell behind to a Ward-Prowse goal in the first half. Jeremy Doku equalized 60 seconds after the restart, before Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland scored within ten minutes of each other to give the Blues a 3-1 victory.

Last season, City had to wait until the 50th minute to break the deadlock at the Etihad Stadium when Nathan Ake scored. Haaland added a second 20 minutes later and Phil Foden rounded off the points with five minutes remaining.