Manchester City take on the visitors West Ham in the round 20 match of English Premier League. The match will be played on Saturday, January 4th at Etihad Stadium (Manchester).
Manchester City looks incredibly weak. Even last season, the Citizens, having lost ground in many ways, managed to retain the title in the Premier League. Yes, the summer brought a lot of "alarm bells": they sold Alvarez, and not only him, signing only Savio and reuniting with Gundogan. When the key midfielder Rodri was injured in the fall, the club, which had started the season quite normally, suddenly fell apart. Moreover, on all "fronts", for several months they did not really win (the exception was the defeat for Nottingham Forest). As a result, the club was eliminated from the League Cup, in the Champions League - under the threat of not reaching the playoffs. Well, in the Premier League, the leader slid to the edge of the European Cup zone. Guardiola, who tried a lot, even began to lock the players at the training ground before the match. This did not help with Everton, they limited themselves to a draw, and Holland did not even score a penalty. But Leicester won confidently later.
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West Ham showed ingratitude towards Moyes. Having arrived as a "fireman" during this term, he ended up winning a full trophy, the Conference League, in 2023. Having lifted the trophy, the captain and leader, Rice, left for Arsenal. But even without him, they managed to have a good season, finishing in the top half of the Premier League table and playing in the Europa League playoffs. But after such an old Scot, they sent him into retirement, inviting Lopetegui instead. And, judging by the 100+ million on newcomers bought in the summer, a lot was expected of Julen - but not what happened in reality, namely, sliding in the Premier League to the point of fighting for survival. It's even strange that the Spaniard wasn't fired after another failure, a defeat in December to Leicester, a direct competitor. But, having retained his post, he and his team won against another outsider, Wolverhampton, while Bournemouth and Brighton drew. They even beat Southampton, after which the defeat to Liverpool wasn't such a painful blow. Although getting 0-5 is always extremely unpleasant.
The last time the Citizens lost to this opponent was in 2015. And 3-1 at the end of August became the fifth victory in a row in head-to-head matches. The Citizens, of course, should win this match. But they are still far from top form, so it's worth considering a bet on the away team's victory with a handicap of +1.5 goals.
Prediction for the match: West Ham to win with +1.5 handicap.
