Premier League preview: West Ham v Manchester City

Manchester City will look to keep the pressure on the league leaders when they visit lowly West Ham on Saturday.

Roberto Mancini’s side are fourth in the English Premier League, three points behind league leaders Arsenal.

They enjoyed a 1-0 win over Bolton at Eastlands in their last league game thanks to Carlos Tevez’s 10th league goal for the season.

West Ham, meanwhile, are languishing at the bottom of the table on 12 points from their 16 games, and the pressure is squarely on boss Avram Grant’s shoulders to lift his beleaguered players.

They suffered a 1-0 loss to Sunderland in their last league game, but before that had enjoyed their best run of form for the season – closing out November with a 3-1 league win over Wigan before a sensational 4-0 Carling Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United.

Grant has his injury concerns ahead of the match, with German midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger out with a thigh injury that is expected to keep him out until February and Jack Collison also not expected back until the new year with a knee complaint.

Mark Noble will be out with a hip injury, Manuel da Costa is still recovering from recent ankle surgery and Swiss winger Valon Behrami is doubtful with a hip problem.

Mancini’s problems with injury are light compared with those of Grant, with only out-of-favour striker Emmanuel Adebayor unavailable with a calf injury.

City are, however, missing leading scorer Tevez and Serbian left-back Aleksandar Kolarov through suspension.