West Ham United will play hosts to League Champions Manchester City at Upton Park on 3rd November, 2012. The game is scheduled to start at 1500 GMT.
West Ham United has their own share of injuries to a few highly influential players. Taylor, Diarra, Demel and Vaz Te are all ruled out from this fixture.
West Ham is at a very good 9th spot in the table with four wins, two draws and three losses. They have a decent line up that can take the game to their opposition. They have lost only one home game so far.
The Hammers have a poor goal scoring record having scored only nine goals in their last fifteen EPL matches. A record they will have to improve if they want to stay in the top half of the table.
On loan striker Andy Carroll has netted four times against Manchester City in his career, more number of times than he has scored compared to any opposition, hence putting him in contention to start this game.
Kevin Nolan enters this game as the highest goal scorer in home games for any team this season.
Manchester City happens to be close to invincible in the EPL having won five and lost none of the last five games on the road, a record that justifies why they are champions. Edin Dezko is their super sub, he has been coming off the bench and scoring on various occasion this season, he has the best scoring to time ratio for City this season. He scores a goal roughly every 55 minutes.
James Miner who does not get a run out very often has had three shots at goal this season. He has scored with two of those shots.
If Manchester United and Chelsea win their respective games, then Manchester City will be forced to win their game to ensure the gap between them and the league leaders does not extend further.
Form Guide (all competitions):
Manchester City: D,W,W,W,W Arsenal: D,W,L,W,L
Predicted starting line-ups:
Manchester City: Hart, Kolarov, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Nasri, Silva, Barry, Toure, Tevez and Aguero.
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Tomkins, Collins, Reid, McCartney, Nolan, Noble, Jarvis, Benayoun, Diame and Carroll
My Prediction: Manchester City should win this game comfortably with a 2-0 scoreline.