West Ham secured their first victory of the season last weekend against Bournemouth. The Hammers started the season with a 2-1 defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. They will now travel to the Etihad Stadium to play Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s team is unbeaten this season and will not be an easy team to play against on their home turf. Slaven Bilic is currently struggling to deal with the injuries to his strikers, They lost Andrew Ayew to a thigh injury on Monday last week and Andy Carroll with a knee problem two days later. West Ham were brilliant last season as they finished 7th on the table and similar expectation will be there for Bilic even this year.
The move to the Olympic Stadium will bring in added revenue along with the new tv deal. The most urgent need right now is to buy a good striker from the market, they have Jonathan Calleri who has come back from loan but there isn’t much we can expect from the youngster, given his inexperience. Here is the predicted West Ham United starting XI for the game against Manchester City.
Goalkeeper: Adrian
Excellent performance against Bournemouth, as he made two superb saves to deny the away team. He will play a crucial role against Manchester City, given the attacking threat they carry now in their squad. With so much chipping and chopping going on in front of him, it is important that he keeps his focus.
Defenders: Sam Byram, Arthur Masuaku, James Collins and Winston Reid
Sam Byram started as the right back in the last match, he was fairly disappointing in the Europa League match in the midweek, however, he redeemed himself with a steady performance last Sunday. He will continue as the right-back, while new signing Masuaku will slot in at left-back. Slightly surprising to see Collins being preferred over Ogbonna but the Welsh international has done well till now and will continue the good work alongside Reid in the centre of the defensive line.
Midfielders: Cheikhou Kouyate, Havard Nordtveit, Mark Noble, Dimitri Payet and Gokhan Tore
Kouyate has enjoyed a bit more freedom now that he has Nordveit as his partner. The new signing is perfect at screening the back four. The duo will be expected to continue on Sunday against Manchester City. Mark Noble improved tremendously from the Chelsea game. He is slowly starting to get into his stride, he will continue in that number 10 role. Payet has been missing through injury but is expected to be fit by the weekend. If fit, Bilic must start his star man, in order to build some momentum. He will start on the left-wing with Tore on the right-wing.
Striker:Enner Valencia
With striker crisis going on currently at West Ham, Bilic has no other option other than to start Enner Valencia in that spot. They have Jonathan Calleri also but the youngster will be better of making substitute performances right now.
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