West Ham United v Manchester City – The Opposition

Manchester City travel to London Stadium on Saturday, looking to follow up their wins over Arsenal and Porto with another victory at the home of the Hammers.

The blues have won all five of their visits to West Ham’s new ground and quite comfortably too - 5-0, 4-0, 4-1, 4-0 and 5-0, and blues fans will be hoping for another goal fest on Saturday. However they face one of the most unpredictable teams in the league so far this season in the form of David Moyes squad, who have a played a bit like City used to in recent weeks.

The Hammers are currently 9^th in the Premier League, having won two, lost two and drawn one of their opening five matches so far. They lost their first two games, at home to Newcastle and away at Arsenal, but took Wolves apart in their second home game of the season, winning 4-0. In between, The Hammers knocked Charlton and Hull City out of the League Cup 3-0 and 5-1 respectively.

Moyes’ team were then thrashed 4-1 at Everton as the crashed out of the competition, before heading to City’s first conqueror’s Leicester and winning 3-0 in one of the surprise results of that weekend. A trip to Spurs last time out saw the Hammers 3-0 down after just 16 minutes, but the home side failed to capitalise any further. That gave the Hammers hope and three goals in 12 minutes saw West Ham make an incredible comeback to end the match in a draw.

Who’s In And Out?

City legend Pablo Zabaleta left the club over the summer and subsequently retired from the game, while Felipe Anderson joined Porto on loan. The Hammers allowed some of their fringe players to leave, but the transfer that caused the biggest stir was Grady Diangana’s move to West Brom, which prompted a backlash from some of West Ham’s star names.

Incoming has been winger Said Benrahma on loan from Brentford and centre back Craig Dawson from Watford, also on loan. Defenders Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal joined from Slavia Prague for £15m and £5m respectively.

Danger Men

Sebastien Haller is West Ham’s top scorer with five goals from eleven shots so far this season, giving him a goal conversion rate of 45%, while his shot accuracy is 64%, the second best of the team. Jarrod Bowen has three goals from five games, while Andriy Yarmolenko, Robert Snodgrass and Michail Antonio have each chipped in with two apiece.

Assists have come in the form of Yarmolenko and Aaron Cresswell, who have three each, with a scary pass accuracy rate of 80% and 85% respectively. The two to look out for though are Snodgrass and Manuel Lanzini. They have a pass accuracy rate of 92% and 91% respectively and between then have completed 382 passes

Who’s The Boss?

Former United and Everton boss David Moyes re-took the reigns last season after former City boss Manuel Pellegrini left the club.

Facts, Figures and Statistics

City have won the last nine Premier League games, home and away against the Hammers and victory on Saturday would equal the East London club’s record of 10^th successive loss against one opponent.

The last time City failed to score against West Ham was November 2012, when the two teams played out a goalless draw at Upton Park.

City have only lost two of the last 24 matches in all competitions against the Hammers.

The last time City lost at West Ham was October 2014, when the home side won 2-1.

The blues have lost their last six Premier League away fixtures when they have conceded the opening goal.

Raheem Sterling has been directly involved in 11 goals in his past six league starts against West Ham - six goals and five assists

The last time West Ham played Manchester City when above them in the table was March 2009 - The Hammers won 1-0