Competition: English Premier League 2016-17
Date: Wednesday, 1st February, 19:45 GMT
Stadium: London Stadium.
West Ham United vs Manchester City Preview
West Ham went down to a 2-0 defeat at home to Manchester United on Monday evening, although many Hammers fans will believe they were unlucky after an absolute shambles of a performance from referee Mike Dean and his assistants. The 48-year-old official gave Sofiane Feghouli a straight red card after a coming together with Phil Jones in the 15th minute, and then Zlatan Ibrahimovic was clearly offside for United’s second goal which went unseen by Dean’s assistant on the far side. Despite the loss, Slaven Bilic was pleased with his team’s performance and will want to see the same fight and desire in this cup tie.
Manchester City battled to a 2-1 victory over Burnley last time out despite being reduced to ten men for much of the game after Fernandinho’s 32nd minute red card. The Brazilian was rightly given his marching orders by Anthony Taylor for a two-footed scissor challenge on Johan Gudmundsson and will miss the next four games as a result.
West Ham United vs Manchester City Betting Tips
Man City are likely to come into this as favourites, but it won’t be easy for them with West Ham having given Manchester United a good challenge despite being down to 10 men for the majority of the game on Monday night. Pep’s Sky Blues haven’t performed to the best of their ability recently, and some supporters are beginning to question their manager’s decisions – an early FA Cup exit here and even more questions will be asked of the Spaniard.
Match Result – Draw – 67/20
West Ham seem to be settling in to their new home at the London Stadium a bit more now, and they were well in the game for a large part of their last match against Man United, despite being down to 10 men for the most part of it. City on the other hand struggled to break down Burnley at the Etihad, and an away trip so soon after could make this difficult for them. We think with Pep’s stars underperforming, the Hammers will nick a draw and earn a replay in Manchester.
Both Teams to Score – Yes – 7/10
With Sergio Aguero upfront, the visitors are always likely to have no trouble finding the back of the net, but their defensive errors have proven costly on several occasions already this season, and we think there’s a chance the Hammers could take advantage of a shaky City backline.
West Ham United vs Manchester City Head To Head
It was Manchester City who emerged victorious by a 3-1 scoreline the last time these two met in the earlier part of this season. However, their recent head-to-head form is evenly split, with two wins to each of their names and a draw in their last five meetings. There have only ever been four FA Cup meetings between the two clubs, the last of which was in 2008, a game which City won 1-0. Dean Ashton bagged a brace in the Hammers last FA Cup victory over the Citizens in 2006.
