Fixture: West Ham v Manchester City
Venue: Boleyn Ground
Time: KO 3pm
Date: 11/12/2010
Top of the League?
If Manchester City win this fixture they will go level on points at the top of the table, as the all the other teams around them are playing each other, Chelsea play at Tottenham on Sunday with the Salford Swamp Dwellers at home to the Gunners on Monday night. This is a big chance for Manchester City to stake a claim to the top spot and begin to drive some forward momentum, as our fixtures over the Xmas and new year period will be coming thick and fast. No matter what happens, you can guarantee that City will receive negative representation in the Media and they will not be the main event on Match of The Day! Sadly, these days, some things are more predictable than the infamous typical city unpredictability. The Media hacks in the written media have their claws out for City and aim to put a negative spin on anything to do with Manchester City FC. I may seem a tad sensitive, however, not without just cause. anyway………
The Match
City are in reasonably good form and go should go into this game in a confident mood. Although they only registered the one goal last weekend, they did produce a hatful of chances and totally played Bolton off the park, hitting the post and the bar on the way to a very well deserved 3 points. Amazingly, Kevin Davies seemed to have a blindfold on for most of the game as he tweeted in poor taste last weekend and embarrassed himself so much that he issued an apology the following day. Let’s hope the ENGLAND INTERNATIONAL (Pffft) learns from his silly mistakes, I also hope Sepp Blatter learns from his, however, I will not hold my breath. Anyway, I digress, so back to the game. Only Arsenal can boast more points and goals than Manchester City away from home this season in the premier league. City do however have an Achilles heel in the absence of their talismanic captain Carlos Tevez, who picked up his 5th yellow card of the season against Bolton Wanderers last week and is serving a 1 match suspension. City are also without the Services of Aleksander Kolarov who was sent off last weekend after receiving 2 yellow cards. Apart from those two noticeable absentees, City may have a fully fit squad to select from, if want away striker Emmanuel Adebayor passes a fitness test. However, new Daily Telegraph columnist “Douglas Higginbotham” has advised that Adebayor was not a participant in the latest training session and was still receiving treatment, which meant he missed the City reserves 5-0 spanking of the City A team in training.
Doug trying to work out lawro’s predictions
The opponents
The premier league basement club West Ham United seemed to have turned the proverbial corner with their recent upturn in results, convincingly beating Wigan 3-1 and thumping the Salford swamp dwellers 4-0. They were hoping to continue their momentum last weekend against Sunderland but they were sunk by a single goal by England new boy and supposed Manchester City Target Jordan Henderson. West Ham’s main problem seems to be their poor defence, despite having the England centre back Matthew Upson in their ranks. The England reserve keeper Rob Green is the premier leagues busiest goalkeeper with a total of 98 saves, which probably goes to show that the defence is largely full of holes. I am Sure Avram grant will be focusing on the likes of new Manchester City recruit Mario Balotelli and the mercurial magician & back to back player of the month David Silva. This will not be an easy fixture by any stretch of the imagination and although West Ham are struggling this season they do have a squad of very capable premiership players.
West Ham Fan and www.mancityfans.net poster WALMAI graciously gave us his views on the upcoming fixture, so I thought I would include this from a Hammers fan perspective.
Welcome to the Basement and Collect 3 points. by Walmai
That’s certainly the expectation, I’d have thought if we conducted a straw poll tonight about my team’s chances.
Time was, when I started my posting odyssey on www.mancityfans.net, that WHUFC and MCFC were broadly matched. This was the season pre-Mark Hughes, by recollection, when we finished one place above Sven Goran Eriksson’s team (that saucy Riverside capitulation might have had something to do with that).
Since then, the two teams have very much gone off in a different direction.
Watch out for:
Piquionne – if Avram actually selects him to start in front of Carlton Stroll – his height and skill can cause most defences a few problems
Hines – aka Billy Whizz, as much as he has only just come back to the bench from a long haul on the treatment table
Obinna – who may be a bit haphazard, but he’s got the running and occasional trickery to conjure an opening
Parker – if you’re dawdling with the ball in the middle or not following the runners into your box, and
Tomkins – who has a bit of composure at the back and is getting better all the time.
The rest of our squad is like a speck on the radar of football as an international concept, in comparison with the galacticos who now play in your colours.
As much as I am obviously concentrating on the wrong end at the moment, it is fair to say that the Premiership this season is shaping up to go right to the wire. All of the other teams alongside whom you occupy the top 4 are capable of being beaten, or at least held. Mancini’s efforts to ensure that you lose as little as possible may not be the most thrilling way of winning the title, but I reckon that it allows you to keep the pace with something left in the tank.
So, from 1700 next Saturday onwards, god speed City. Just try to afford us a degree of respect beforehand eh? A leaf from returning hero Carlito’s book, perhaps?
Ones to Watch
City – Joe Hart
Joe has a firm grasp on the situation
Joe has been steady in goal this season but has managed a few blips and he needs to cut those out of his game. He is England’s No1 and needs to keep up the level of performance that got him there.
West Ham – Robert Green
Rob has an itchy arm
Green is a very good keeper but is prone to the odd cock up, he will need to be on his toes to stop Super Mario Balotelli from adding to his goal tally.
Prediction
West Ham 0 – 3 Manchester City
A big thanks to West Ham Fan Walmai for providing his insight into WHU for this preview on behalf of www.mancityfans.net