Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Sam Byram is available for West Ham after completing his move from Leeds, but is unlikely to start, while Joey O’Brien is fit after a lengthy lay-off.
James Collins is doubtful with a knock, while Andy Carroll, Manuel Lanzini and Diafra Sakho are still out.
Manchester City welcome back Fernandinho, who has missed their last three matches.
But Aleksandar Kolarov has joined Wilfried Bony, Eliaquim Mangala and Vincent Kompany on the injury list.
Editor’s Note: West Ham suffered their first defeat in 8 matches last weekend with their visit to Newcastle, they’ll be hoping to bounce back to winning ways this Evening and also do the double over Manchester City after already tasting success when the two sides met at The Etihad earlier in the season.
West Ham have been busy in the transfer market with Sam Byram joining from Leeds in the week and Mauro Zarate departing for Fiorentina, Byram will be in competition with Carl Jenkinson at least until the end of the season and it’s likely that Jenkinson will get the nod for the visit of Manchester City
The Hammers were as high as 5th before last Weekend’s fixture but that aforementioned defeat on Tyneside has seen them overtaken by Manchester United but 6th is no great shame whatsoever for Slaven Bilic’s men as he still has to contend with a full treatment room at Upton Park, as soon as one person gets fit another one gets injured so it will be interesting to see just what they could do with a fully fit team.
Manchester City have had their own well documented injury issues this season with Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero and David Silva all have lengthy spells out on the sidelines but thankfully for Manuel Pellegrini the latter two are back and were firing on all cylinders in their win over Crystal Palace last Saturday.
That win and subsequent draws for Arsenal and Leicester has closed the gap to 1 point and if results go there way today they could find themselves at the summit for at least 24 hours or even longer if Chelsea do them a favour at The Emirates tomorrow.
City are unbeaten in their last 5 league matches but it’s been an alternation between wins and draws, they need to go a run of wins if they are to get any distance on their title rivals and they will hope the pattern of alternate wins and draws doesn’t continue at Upton Park this evening.
Manuel Pellegrini and his team will no doubt be looking to exact revenge for their defeat at the hands of West Ham back in September and I think they key will be whether they can keep Dimitri Payet quiet, the Frenchmen had a rare quiet day last weekend in Newcastle and City will be hoping that’s the case again later today.
As for the result, with City now just 1 point off the top I feel they have the extra impetus of wanting to win this and really put themselves back in the title race, consistency will be the key and I think they can build on last weekend’s win over Crystal Palace with another win over London opposition. An away win for me.
