Will Manchester City get their third win in a row?

On Saturday, 31.08.2024, the Premier League clash between West Ham United and Manchester City will take place. The roles seem to be clearly defined in advance, because while the home side have been trying to establish themselves in international business for years, the visitors are the league leaders with six league titles in the last seven years. For this reason, the West Ham vs Manchester City betting tip on a home win seems to be almost without alternative

In the search for value, we have opted for the West Ham vs Manchester City prediction on a goal from Erling Braut Haaland. The Norwegian attacker has been in top form of late, scoring four goals in the last two games. The Citizens’ center forward has also found the back of the net four times in four matches against the Hammers

This match kicks off at 18:30 on Saturday at the London Stadium in London. The match will be officiated by English referee Michael Oliver. The match can be watched live and in full on Sky Sport or Wow.

West Ham – Statistics & current form

West Ham United can look back on a poor season, as Julen Lopetegui’s team finished in ninth place with just 52 points from 38 games. The Hammers even missed out on international business by a considerable margin in the end and had a total of eleven points fewer than Chelsea FC. The Hammers should therefore lower their own targets for the new season, as they are currently unable to keep up with the top teams in the league.

This was also evident at the start of the new season, when the hosts lost 2-1 to Aston Villa at their own stadium. However, the defeat itself was not the biggest problem, but primarily the manner of the defeat. The second game against Crystal Palace and the cup tie against AFC Bournemouth were no different. In these two games, however, at least the result was right. At the moment, however, West Ham can only be described in one word: lackluster

West Ham waiting for Impact

The Hammers spent a lot of money in the summer, signing seven big-name additions in Luis Guilherme, Max Kilman, Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Füllkrug, Gudo Rodriguez, Jean-Clari Todibo and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. In addition, important players were retained and departures were largely prevented. Overall, the squad has improved, but where is the expected upturn?

Offensively, the Hammers have and had hardly any problems, as Julen Lopetegui’s team was quite competitive with 60 goals in 38 league games (average 1.58). In a league-wide comparison, West Ham were in eighth place. With four goals in their first three competitive games, the Hammers appear to have maintained their attacking power. Nevertheless, they have struggled to create chances of late, which is why we don’t want to sugarcoat everything in attack.

Defensively, however, things went even worse last season, as the Hammers had one of the weakest defenses in the league, conceding 74 goals in 38 games (average 1.95). Luton Town, Sheffield United and Burnley were the only three relegated teams to concede more goals. For a club like West Ham, that is of course an indictment. Especially ahead of the game against Manchester City, these are of course bad omens, which are underpinned by the bookies’ odds ahead of the match between West Ham and Manchester City

Predicted West Ham line-up:

Manchester City – Statistics & current form

Manchester City are doing Manchester City things and secured their fourth consecutive league title last season. This sporting success is hard to put into words, as the Premier League is not considered the best league in the world for nothing. However, with Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC, the Citizens once again have serious rivals this season. Despite the last few years, the Skyblues cannot lay back and must deliver again.

However, Pep Guardiola’s players seem to be aware of this, because with six points from the first two games, the team has picked up where it left off. The 2:0 win against Chelsea FC in particular was a first exclamation mark to the competition. The visitors also celebrated their first title of the new season, securing the Community Shield Cup in the final against Manchester United

Manchester City surprisingly inactive

The transfer window has been the Citizens’ playground over the past decade. Sheikh Mansour pumped a lot of money into the club, literally forcing sporting success. This summer, however, Manchester City have been surprisingly cautious and have only spent €25 million on Savinho so far. The Skyblues even made a tidy profit by selling Julian Alvarez, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Sergio Gomez and Joao Cancelo.

Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola was able to keep his regular players together and did not have to accept any loss of quality. The statistical figures from the previous season, such as 96 goals in 38 league games (average 2.53), should therefore remain fundamentally similar. With six goals from the first two games, this statement already seems to be confirmed. Scoring goals should therefore not be a problem on the way to the championship. Similarly, the bookmakers are predicting a high-scoring encounter between West Ham and Manchester City.

Defensively, however, Pep Guardiola’s team still has some room for improvement, as with 34 goals conceded in 38 games (Ø 0.89), the Skyblues “only” finished second last season. That is, of course, complaining at a very high level, but as Manchester City they always strive for the best. So it remains to be seen whether the Citizens can work on their stability without losing any of their attacking power

Predicted Manchester City line-up:

West Ham – Manchester City head-to-head comparison / H2H record

The direct comparison of the two teams goes quite clearly to the visiting team. The Citizens won 65 games, while 19 games ended in a draw and the Hammers only won 37. The home side have not won in six matches and have not even scored in four. The H2H comparison thus clearly underpins our following West Ham vs Manchester City betting tip:

West Ham – Manchester City betting tip

In the course of our detailed analysis, we have to realize that the West Ham vs Manchester City odds are very appropriately distributed. The visitors are the clear favorites, are on a different level in terms of play and are also in better form. In addition, the Hammers have been waiting for a point against the Citizens for four matches and have always lost out in the recent past. A victory for Guardiola’s side therefore seems almost set in stone

West Ham sold themselves very well against Manchester City, despite their poor record. We can therefore well imagine that the home side will be able to put in the odd pinprick on Saturday. As an alternative to our main betting tip, we therefore recommend the West Ham vs Manchester City betting odds for “both teams to score – yes”