Prediction: West Ham vs Manchester City

High-flying West Ham will be looking to claim another major scalp when they host reigning champions Manchester City at their Boleyn Ground and at the same time cement their place in the top half of the standings. The Citizens did hammer Tottenham Hotspur to record third straight league win, but the disappointing Champions League draw with CSKA Moscow means they enter this game low on spirits.

Not too many people believed West Ham would ever be a joy to watch under Sam Allardyce, but the legendary manager has adapted surprisingly well to the new demands by the club management getting his side playing attractive attacking football this season. Some shrewd transfer dealings also played a part as the likes of Song, Valencia, Sakho, Kouyate and Jenkinson have proved to be great signings, while forgotten Stewart Downing has revelled in his new role at the tip of the diamond. And even if the season started poorly for the Hammers, who lost two of first three fixtures, have they shown considerable improvement since, taking ten points from last five fixtures. While giving a very good account of themselves in the narrow and somewhat controversial defeat at Old Trafford, West Ham played out a 2-2 draw with Hull City while beating Liverpool, QPR and Burnley to climb to fourth in the standings. Sam Allardyce may have a point in saying that this is his strongest ever side at Boleyn Ground and even if they face a tough task against champions Manchester City, the Hammers should at least be trusted to extend the impressive scoring run. The return of Kouyate and Tomkins will serve as an additional boost, but Andy Carroll is still not ready to feature.

Manchester City are slowly returning to their best following a slow start to the new campaign, but their place in the Champions League knockout stages is in serious danger after the unexpected setback in Russia. Everything appeared to be going just fine for Manuel Pellegrini’s side as they carried a two-goal lead into the second half, but they allowed the opposition to get back into the game and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. City should still have more than enough chances to kick-start their Champions League campaign, but the good news is their Premiership title bid appears to be back on track. After defeating Hull City and Aston Villa on the road, the Citizens recorded a 4-1 triumph over Tottenham Hotspur last time out, although they again created too many costly mistakes and Spurs even had a penalty to level the score at 2-2 before Aguero killed off the game with two more goals. With the Argentine finally fully fit, Manchester City obviously have no problems in attack, but their back line does seem a bit shaky, with even usually reliable captain Vincent Kompany making mistakes. Taking everything into account, Manuel Pellegrini’s charges will have to work hard in order to see off red-hot West Ham.

Conclusion

West Ham are playing their best football in years and having been scoring goals for fun of late, the Hammers can be trusted to net at least once on Saturday. Manchester City do have Sergio Aguero on fire, but their defence is clearly conceding way too many goals at the moment, which is enough to suggest we could see goals galore at Boleyn Ground.

Verdict: Over 2.5 goals

Best Odds: 4/7

Bookmaker: bet365