Preview: West Ham United vs. Manchester City
Soccer News 2024/08/31 03:00
After beginning his reign as West Ham manager with a 2-1 Premier League defeat to Aston Villa, Julen Lopetegui celebrated his first triumph last weekend as his new-look Hammers side secured a 2-0 victory away against Crystal Palace.
Following a goalless first half, Tomas Soucek opened the scoring on the 67-minute mark, five minutes before captain Jarrod Bowen added a second, and the Hammers went on to keep their first Premier League clean sheet since January, ending a 19-game run without a shutout.
West Ham have since progressed to the third round of the EFL Cup after edging past fellow top-flight side Bournemouth by a 1-0 scoreline at the London Stadium on Wednesday night, albeit in fortunate circumstances as their 88th-minute winner would presumably have been disallowed if VAR had been in use, as Mohammed Kudus's shot bounced off Bowen's arm before making the net ripple.
Lopetegui's side have been rewarded with a tricky third-round trip to holders Liverpool next month, but they will first turn their attention back to the Premier League, with a challenging home encounter against Man City followed by an away clash with Fulham.
Success over Man City has been hard to come by for West Ham, as they have failed to win any of their last 17 Premier League meetings with the Citizens since a 2-1 away victory in September 2015 under former boss Slaven Bilic.
Man City have been relatively slow starters under Pep Guardiola in recent years, but they have already bagged the Community Shield and have picked up maximum points from their opening two Premier League matches this term, scoring six goals and conceding only one.