Match Preview: West Ham United vs Manchester City

City looking to improve away record in Capital

By Rebecca Halliwell

Tomorrow Manchester City are set to face West Ham United. In last year’s corresponding fixture, the Hammers held the Blues to a goalless draw with West Ham incorrectly having a goal ruled out for offside. Last season, Manchester City struggled to find any away form and even though they were unbeaten at that stage in late November, they had lost ground in the title race. This season is proving to be similar with the Blues having lost to Cardiff and Aston Villa despite being in front, as well as a draw with Stoke.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

In the Spotlight: West Ham United

No. 9: Ravel Morrison, Manuel Pellegrini and West Ham's inconsistent form

By Aaron Leggott

The international break has finally come to an end as Premier League football returns this weekend. Ahead of City's game at West Ham, we caught up with Hammers fan Jack Bowers (@JackBowers92) to get a lowdown on tomorrow evening's opponents. 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Manchester City 2 - 1 West Ham: Thoughts and Ratings

By Aaron Leggott

My thoughts

Superb goals from Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure gave us a comfortable 2-1 victory on Saturday against West Ham and in truth, we were rarely tested throughout the 90 minutes.

The first half started as I expected, with City having the majority of the ball - whilst West Ham seemingly employed a formation of damage limitation. Their season is all but over and Sam Allardyce knows that his team were extremely unlikely of getting a result, so why didn't they just go for it?

Obviously against the Blues you need to find a sensible formation which allows you to attack and defend otherwise we'd just rip you on the counter attack - but the Hammers just sat back and let us play, which I think is the worst thing you can do.

Carlos Tevez in action against his former club. See what rating I gave him below.
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Just look at the teams who have given us problems this season. Dortmund, Southampton, Liverpool - all three employed a system of high pressure and quick counter attacking football, and it worked. 

Match Reflection: Manchester City 2 - 1 West Ham

Superb Yaya Toure goal secures three points

By Aaron Leggott

Despite it being almost a whole calendar year since we beat Queens Park Rangers in the final game of last season, the team named by Roberto Mancini to play West Ham was identical to the XI that won the title in dramatic fashion.

Think of this what you will, but it is a bold statement from the Italian to show just how little we strengthened last summer and despite the capture of teenage sensation Matija Nastasic - a lot of the purchases by the club were clearly inadequate for a successful title challenge.

Yaya Toure celebrates scoring City's second goal against West Ham
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However, this City team, who have only dropped seven points at the Etihad Stadium this season, produced a performance similar to those deserving of them becoming league champions last season.

Match Preview: Manchester City vs West Ham

Emotional day ahead as Foe set to be remembered

By Aaron Leggott

With the Premier League title race being wrapped up on Monday night, this game doesn't really have anything hanging on the line with West Ham having comfortably consolidated themselves as a Premier League club thanks to some good form in the past few weeks - whilst the hosts have second place all but secured.

However, perhaps the stand out moment tomorrow will be the remembrance of Marc Vivien Foe, who tragically passed away 10 years ago. The campaign was started from a City fan on Twitter and he is set to be properly remembered as both a wonderful person and an asset when he played for both City and West Ham.

A truly brilliant person and footballer. We will all remember him tomorrow. RIP Marc
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The Hammers have recently grabbed a point at Anfield as well as holding Manchester United to a draw at Upton Park to complete a run of five unbeaten games which has topped off a good few months for the club as they successfully won the battle to the call the Olympic Stadium their home from the start of the 2016/17 season.

Reflection: Misfiring City draw first blank in 11 months

BY AARON LEGGOTT

Can Nastastic take Lescott's place?
Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images Europe

It has been 42 matches since City failed to score in a competitive fixture, but West Ham were finally able to stop the Premier League champions from finding the net, thanks to a rearguard display by Sam Alladyce's men.

Upon reflection, I am happy with the point. Considering our current form, a trip to the Boleyn Ground was never going to be easy, and despite not scoring, I thought their was a lot of improvement within the side.

Defensively, we looked a lot more secure, and it wouldn't surprise me if we saw more of Matija Nastasic as the season progresses. He looks a far better player than Stefan Savic, and at the moment you would have to say he's looking a safer bet than Joleon Lescott in the heart of the back line. In fact, I hardly noticed him on Saturday which proves how calm he played alongside the captain.