English Premier
2012-11-03 - West Ham United vs Manchester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 3 November 2012 - Kick Off 5:30pm
This game is live on TV
West Ham United
Sam Allardyce would not have been happy with the way his side performed at Wigan Athletic last weekend, but overall he can't have too many complaints from his West Ham United squad in the early portion of this Premier League season. Newly promoted sides can sometimes have a tough learning curve in the top flight, as we have seen with Reading and Southampton, but West Ham have looked 'comfortable' so far.
Despite the loss at the DW Stadium, West Ham are still in the top half of the table in 9th place in the Premier League and their 14 point tally is very respectable from the 27 available. Most of the positive results have come here at Upton Park where West Ham are 3-1-1 so far this season, scoring 10 goals and conceding 5.
Inconsistency has to be expected from a West Ham side that have come up from the Championship and so it has to be accepted that runs where they interchange wins and losses are not the end of the World. That has been the case for West Ham over their last 4 Premier League games, although Upton Park has been a much more solid ground for them for the most part. West Ham had failed to win any of 3 here in all competitions before beating Southampton 4-1 last time out.
Ricardo Vaz Te, Guy Demel and Alou Diarra are all missing for the home side. Jack Collison and Matt Taylor are both doubtful and will need last fitness tests.
Manchester City
It has been a tough period for Roberto Mancini and Manchester City as players have begun openly criticising the tactics that have left them in a big hole in the Champions League. They have a home game with Ajax coming up during the week that is a 'must win' so it will be interesting how they approach this game as they look to keep tabs on the leaders.
City are 3rd in the Premier League after a difficult 1-0 win over Swansea last weekend means they are just 1 point behind Chelsea in the League. The side have really struggled to impose themselves away from home where they are 2-2-0 so far, scoring 7 goals and conceding 5, but the attacking options Mancini has has given them the opportunity to win games when not playing well.
The side have actually won 4 straight games in the Premier League, but it has been the disappointing results in the Champions League that has been the talk of Eastlands. City have actually won back to back Premier League away games at Fulham and West Brom, but those results have been sandwiched by defeats at Real Madrid and Ajax in the Champions League.
Micah Richards has been ruled out until the New Year after going in for knee surgery. Maicon, David Silva and Jack Rodwell are all ruled out, while Javi Garcia is a doubt.
Head to Head
This will be the first time the sides have met since the 2010/11 season when Manchester City recorded the double over West Ham United including a 1-3 win here at Upton Park.
Before that win for City, they had failed to win any of 3 previous trips to Upton Park in all competitions.
Prediction
This is a tougher match to look at considering Manchester City have a huge game against Ajax on deck, but I don't think Roberto Mancini will be expecting anything less than the 3 points from this game.
It is a winnable game for City, but West Ham United are not going to be an easy out for anyone visiting this ground and we saw that earlier this season when they took the lead against Arsenal, although eventually succumbing 1-3.
I do like City to win here after they have already had tough victories at Craven Cottage and the Hawthornes, but the 1.73 looks remarkably short for a side that hasn't kept a clean sheet away from home this season and is even struggling to do that at the Etihad Stadium.
I would be surprised if City won the game after conceding more than once and the 1-2 score has been the outcome from their last 2 away games in the Premier League and that looks a live scoreline again to me.
Therefore, I'll take Manchester City to win this game with either 3/4 total goals scored offered at the outstanding 3.60 by Paddy Power and that also covers the situation where City match the Arsenal scoreline earlier in the season at Upton Park.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
West Ham United 1-2 Manchester City
