Man City are yet to concede this season, but we are still yet to concede away. What will we need to do to beat potentially the hottest prospects of the season?
It looks like Aguero, Silva, Kompany and Sterling are all going to be fit to face us,but we have had the news confirmed that the Italian Angelo Ogbonna will be out of action for at least three weeks.
One bonus is that Spanish hero Adrian is available after serving his three match ban, which begs the question of whether he replace Randolph between the sticks or not.
We have just achieved back-to-back wins, without conceding in the process, so our confidence couldn’t be much higher at this point.
Many fans across social media have been showing how much they fancy us to get a result up in Manchester, and although it will not be an easy task, I am someone who thinks we can get something from the match.
Dimitri Payet was in superb form against Newcastle on Monday, netting two goals and grabbing himself a MOTM award. If he can perform like that again, other players will start to gain confidence and we might just nick a goal at the right stage of the match.
City played a champions league match on Tuesday night, losing 2-1 at home to Juventus, showing that they are capable of leaking goals and losing matches.
The last time the Hammers were able to beat Manchester City on their own turf in the Premier League was back in 2003 on April 27th, when we snatched a 1-0 win.
If we can replicate the counter attacking style we have been playing with away from home this season then I see no reason as to why we cannot get a result.
Our defenders are going to have to be switched on and keep Aguero out of the game, like we did with Benteke at Liverpool.
Isolate Aguero, stop Sterling’s runs, keep Silva off the ball and we might just have a chance. Simple right?
Here is how I think we are going to start against Manchester City, looking to play on the counter attack once again…
I have made three changes from the win against Newcastle, with Adrian, Obiang and Jenks coming in for Randolph, Lanzini and Ogbonna respectively.
We beat Manchester City at home last season, so we know we are capable of beating them, especially considering the improvements to our squad and our general play, so picking up a point or three isn’t impossible.
Some people were saying that Randolph deserves to keep his place for Saturday, but although I feel he has done an excellent job in keeping two clean sheets out of three games, I feel Adrian is our number one choice and would do a better job.
As always I always leave a prediction, so I am going to say 1-0 to the Hammers!
I got the last prediction right, so let’s hope I have done it again!
Visit Frank’s blog here, and be sure to follow him on Twitter at @FrankWHUFC.
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