West Ham United vs Manchester City, Premier League Matchday 1: Team News, Preview and Prediction

Competition/Round: 2019/20 English Premier League – Matchday 1

Date/Time:West Ham United vs Manchester City – Saturday, August 10, 2019, 12:30 GMT (UK); 07:30 EST, 04:30 PST (USA)

Venue: London Stadium, London, England, UK

Match Officials:

Referee: Mike Dean

Assistants: Darren Cann, Dan Robathan

Fourth Official: Gavin Ward

VAR: David Coote

Assistant VAR: Stephen Child

TV Info: BT Sport 1 (UK); NBCSN (USA)

Live Stream: BT Sport Live (UK); NBC Sports Live, Fubo.tv (USA) Fubo.tv shows every Manchester City game with a high-quality and legal stream. New to Fubo.tv? Click here to sign up for a discounted rate.

Radio: BBC Radio Manchester (UK); TalkSport Radio World (USA)

Preview:

The 2019/20 English Premier League is underway. West Ham United will host Manchester City on EPL Matchday 1.

The Hammers struggled on their preseason tour as they lost their opening two matches in Asia. The fell to Manchester City in the Premier League Asia Trophy Semi-Final before losing to Newcastle United in the competition’s third place match. It is not all bad news, however, as they will have everyone available for the start of their 2019/20 campaign.

Meanwhile, Manchester City had a rather successful preseason tour in Asia as Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling were the breakout stars. Albeit they lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties in the Premier League Asia Trophy Final, the Sky Blues will feel well prepared for the start of the 2019/20 season.

Team News:

West Ham United will have a fully fit squad for this fixture.

Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez is unlikely to start as he Algeria won the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Possible Lineups:

West Ham United

Formation: 4-1-4-1

Fabiański; Zabaleta, Reid, Sánchez, Cresswell; Noble; Yarmolenko, Cullen, Lanzini, Anderson; Hernández

Manager: Manuel Pellegrini

Manchester City

Formation: 4-3-3

Ederson; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Rodri, D. Silva; B. Silva, Jesus, Sterling

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Prediction:

These sides previously met during their respective preseason campaigns in Shanghai. Whilst West Ham went ahead early on in the match, Manchester City quickly turned the match around in what became a routine victory.

West Ham have since played a series of friendlies with mixed results. Moreover, they are still looking to find their full match fitness as they transition from their preseason to the start of the regular season.

Meanwhile, the Sky Blues will be fatigued after last week’s Community Shield encounter vs Liverpool, but they should be well prepared for this fixture. The players have nearly reached full match fitness, and following this encounter with West Ham on Saturday, they should be at full strength.

West Ham United 1-3 Manchester City