***West Ham v Champions Official Match Thread***

[nottsblue]

We know the score

4 points from the last two games and this bullshit about a quadruple gets put to bed

Rather concerned about who might line up in defence. I think it will be Laporte and Ake. Today is the tougher of the remaining fixtures and as such it is worth a risk if Laporte isn’t 100%

Thought our last game would be a tight affair and was very wrong! But West Ham have got more at stake d St o I think this will be close. We have spanked them at the London stadium a few times recently sad I they are due a result, just hope it isn’t today

2-1 Mahrez and Bernado

[Mase]

Come on City!!!

[Kippax Sean]

Hopefully laporte has fully recovered and we have our finishing boots on again. Come on City.

[johnny crossan]

Hopefully laporte has fully recovered and we have our finishing boots on again. Come on City.

looks a bit dodgy though

[Mase]

Wonder what Puma will have to say when they sponsor our match day and training gear and Laporte is promoting Adidas

[Hazy2]

Win the game. Gonna be tough, but we know what’s what.

[Beefymcfc]

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

West Ham are winless in 12 league games against Manchester City since a 2-1 away victory in September 2015.

After winning their first five games against West Ham at the London Stadium in all competitions - scoring 22 goals and conceding one, Manchester City are winless in their last two visits.

This is the 100th top-flight meeting between the sides.

West Ham United

Their win over Norwich last week was only their third in 11 matches in all competitions.

They are aiming to score in every home league game of a season for only the third time in their history, having done so in 1926-27 in the top flight and 1980-81 in the second tier.

This is their 22nd Premier League game on a Sunday this season, second in the division only to Tottenham's 25 in 2020-21. The Hammers have won just four of their 14 most recent Sunday fixtures.

They are aiming to become the first Premier League side since 2010-11 to record home wins against Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester City in the same campaign.

Jarrod Bowen is only the second West Ham player to register at least 10 goals and 10 assists in a Premier League season, emulating Paolo Di Canio in 1999-00.

Michail Antonio needs one goal to become the first West Ham player to score at least 10 goals in three consecutive top-flight campaigns since Tony Cottee in the 1980s.

David Moyes has lost nine of his 10 Premier League matches as a manager against Manchester City while in charge of Manchester United, Sunderland and West Ham.

Manchester City

Manchester City are the first team in English top-flight history to win five consecutive league games by a margin of at least three goals.

Their tally of 45 away points this season is the fourth highest in Premier League history after Arsenal in 2001-02 (47), Chelsea in 2004-05 (48) and City themselves in 2017-18 (50).

They have a 100% winning record this season against 15 of the other 19 teams in the league. They dropped points in both league games versus Liverpool, Spurs, Crystal Palace and Southampton.

Kevin de Bruyne has eight goals and five assists in his last eight league appearances. This is his best goalscoring campaign for Manchester City in both the league (15 goals) and all competitions (19).

He has scored an unrivalled 57 Premier League career goals without any of them being headers.

Raheem Sterling has been involved in 14 goals in 16 league games against West Ham (eight goals, six assists), more than he has versus any other side. Nine of these have come in five appearances at the London Stadium, with four goals and five assists.

[john68]

Reading that cheered me up Beefers Mate. until I realised that none of that will count from the moment the 1st whistle blows.

After all these years of Cityups and downs, you'd think I would be immune to all this shit, but for some reason, I am as nervy as I was as a kid in th Kippax

[mr_nool]

Win today and the league is ours in my opinion.
Draw, and things still look OK, but nervy.
Lose, and Liverpool will score 10 against Soton and steal the title.

[Mase]

Win today and the league is ours in my opinion.
Draw, and things still look OK, but nervy.
Lose, and Liverpool will score 10 against Soton and steal the title.

Pretty much how I see it also. We win and I can’t see them pulling back the GD even if we lose the last game.

Plus I’m on a stag do for the weekend for our final match so I don’t want to be worrying about City all weekend!!

[Mase]

I desperately want to see Grealish lifting the trophy in front of the Villa fans.

[mr_nool]

I desperately want to see Grealish lifting the trophy in front of the Villa fans.

Better cancel the stag do then

[City64]

We gave ourselves a fantastic cushion by beating Newcastle and Wolves 5-0 & 5-1 respectively. We will destroy Villa home next week but it will make things sweeter if we get a result in London today . Superb position to be in enjoy the ride ffs !

[john68]

We gave ourselves a fantastic cushion by beating Newcastle and Wolves 5-0 & 5-1 respectively. We will destroy Villa home next week but it will make things sweeter if we get a result in London today . Superb position to be in enjoy the ride ffs ! 8-)

Awin today will make it beyond sweeter Mate. It will effectively give us the title.
I agree we will beat Villa but we will be relieved of a ton of pressure and nerves.

A good win today will pile the pressure on the dippers and make their last 2 games meaningful for them.
Just the pressure they will need for Madrid to beat them.

[Nigels Tackle]

heading to stratford now. first away day for my eldest.
very nervous

[Beefymcfc]

Reading that cheered me up Beefers Mate. until I realised that none of that will count from the moment the 1st whistle blows.

After all these years of Cityups and downs, you'd think I would be immune to all this shit, but for some reason, I am as nervy as I was as a kid in th Kippax

Nothing changes, mate. Whether we are going down with a penny in the bank or winning a domestic quadruple, there’s always that sense that we have the ability to shoot ourselves in the foot, just as the CL semi taught us.

[Tokyo Blue]

heading to stratford now. first away day for my eldest.
very nervous

Keep calm and sing like fuck.

I hope you and especially your lad enjoy the day.

Up the fucking Blues.

[Beefymcfc]

The question is, Women’s FA Cup final or the Men’s PL decider?

[Beefymcfc]

heading to stratford now. first away day for my eldest.
very nervous

Hopefully a great day out, mate. Have a good one and ensure you are both loud and proud.

Oh, and boo the ref

[Tokyo Blue]

Reading that cheered me up Beefers Mate. until I realised that none of that will count from the moment the 1st whistle blows.

After all these years of Cityups and downs, you'd think I would be immune to all this shit, but for some reason, I am as nervy as I was as a kid in th Kippax

Nothing changes, mate. Whether we are going down with a penny in the bank or winning a domestic quadruple, there’s always that sense that we have the ability to shoot ourselves in the foot, just as the CL semi taught us.

Too true, mate.

I often hear the word "expectation" bandied around about football, mostly by people who ought to know better. I prefer the word "hope" to describe my thoughts before a match or season.

It is, though, very hard not to be confident in this group of players.