Manchester City v West Ham betting preview: Prediction, preview and best bets for Premier League clash at the Etihad

Recommended bets

1pt Tomas Soucek 2+ total shots at 7/2

0.5pt Aaron Cresswell to be carded at 5/1

For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record

Manchester City v West Ham

• 1930 GMT kick-off on Sky Sports Premier League

After a turbulent week or so off the field, Manchester City must now dust themselves off and help the club bounce back in the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola's side are still on track for a top four finish and whether they are playing European football next season is out of the players' hands and one for the club's bosses to deal with.

Due to last week's game being called off, City have actually had an extended break and their last game seems an awful long time ago - that 2-0 defeat at Tottenham on February 2.

They have had a long time to stew and get over that one and they welcome a West Ham side that rarely beats them.

City have won the last eight meetings in all competitions, scoring at least four goals in five of those fixtures. But we have seen after these mid-season breaks how teams are returning more sluggish than well rested and it could be the case here.

West Ham travel to the Etihad on the back of a poor run of form, without a win in their last six in all competitions and with just one Premier League victory to their name since David Moyes returned.

It can often be difficult to find value in a game so one-sided in the betting - the Hammers are as great as 20/1 to win with some bookies. For the planned tie 10 days ago, we tipped two or more first-half goals for City but the preference is to stay away from that after their lengthy time off.

Instead we are looking at two West Ham players - Tomas Soucek and Aaron Cresswell.

Czech Republic international Soucek arrived in January from Slavia Prague on an initial loan deal. Although he is a defensive midfielder by trade, the 24-year-old scored 10 goals in 19 appearances for Slavia in the first half of the campaign and his rate of shooting is impressive.

He averaged 2.3 per game in the Champions League this season (four shots and a goal against both Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund), 2.7 per game in the UEFA Nations League last year and he had two on his Premier League debut for West Ham, against Brighton.

With this in mind, his anytime goalscorer price will be worth watching in the coming games. He is 17/2 here but the preference is to go with him in the shots market.

He is 7/2 to register two or more efforts in the game (or 3/1 to get just one or more on target) and that is appealing enough for us - with no onus of his efforts being on target.cr

Soucek will offer West Ham much-needed steel in the middle but going forward he is not afraid of trying his luck.

Cresswell, meanwhile, is a good 5/1 price to be shown a booking. The left-back already has six to his name in the Premier League this season, a stat hardly reflected by the odds.

Cresswell will be in for a tough night, up against any of Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo or David Silva and possibly even Leroy Sane who is returning from injury.

That is bad enough and Cresswell likes to get forward when he can, so he could easily get caught out. With these factors considered, backing him for a card is worthy of a small play.

Prediction: Man City 2-0 West Ham (Sky Bet odds: 8/1)

Best bets:

• Tomas Soucek 2+ total shots at 7/2
• Aaron Cresswell to be carded at 5/1

Key stats

• Manchester City have won each of their last seven Premier League meetings with West Ham, scoring 23 goals and conceding just three in reply.
• West Ham have taken just four points from a possible 39 in Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium (W1 D1 L11), drawing 1-1 in January 2008 and winning 2-1 in September 2015.
• West Ham have lost 20 of their 23 Premier League away games against reigning champions (W1 D2), with their only victory coming at Manchester United in December 2001 (1-0).
• Manchester City have lost six Premier League games this season – as many as they had in their previous two campaigns combined. Manager Pep Guardiola has never lost seven matches in any of his previous 10 top-flight campaigns.
• West Ham haven’t won any of their last 16 league games in which they’ve conceded at least once (D4 L12) since winning 3-1 at Watford in August. The Hammers haven’t kept a league clean sheet against Man City since November 2012, conceding in all 14 since.
• Manchester City have conceded 15.6% of the shots they’ve faced in the Premier League this season – the highest ratio registered by any team in a single campaign since we have this data available (2003-04).
• West Ham have dropped a league-high 19 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, with the Hammers failing to win eight of their 14 games in which they’ve scored first this season (W6 D5 L3).
• Man City boss Pep Guardiola has won all eight of his meetings with West Ham in all competitions – in his managerial career, against no side does he have a better 100% winning record (also 8/8 vs Malaga and Watford).
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Man City’s Raheem Sterling has been involved in 11 Premier League goals in seven appearances against West Ham (6 goals, 5 assists), netting a hat-trick at the London Stadium in the reverse fixture this term.
• Despite not registering a goal involvement until late October, Robert Snodgrass has been involved in more Premier League goals than any other West Ham player this season (9 – 5 goals, 4 assists). The Scotsman was involved in all three of their strikes against Brighton last time out (2 goals, 1 assist).

Odds correct as of 1800 GMT on 18/02/20

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