Fresh from an enthralling Champions League victory over Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City welcome fellow high-flyers West Ham United to the Etihad for Sunday's Premier League battle.
David Moyes's side also produced the goods in continental competition in midweek, seeing off Rapid Vienna with ease in the Europa League.
Match preview
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Pep Guardiola must be thanking his lucky stars that wantaway midfielder Bernardo Silva did not leave the club over the summer, as the Portuguese - along with compatriot Joao Cancelo - ran PSG ragged during a 2-1 Champions League success.
After failing to take their bountiful opportunities in the first half, City fell behind through Kylian Mbappe's opener, but Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus responded for last season's beaten finalists in front of a jubilant home crowd.
The Citizens can now afford to take their foot off the gas in Europe after sealing progress to the last-16 of the competition, and Guardiola's side also eased to a 3-0 win over Everton in last weekend's Premier League battle, with Rodri scoring a thunderbolt on the day.
In doing so, City have kept the pressure on leaders Chelsea and lie second in the table - three points adrift of the European champions - but Liverpool are only one point behind the reigning champions and ready to take advantage of any slip-ups.
Victory over PSG represented City's fourth win in a row across all competitions - as well as their eighth triumph from 10 home matches - and West Ham are fighting an uphill battle to become just the second side in the Premier League to find the net against City at the Etihad this season.
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An ever-impressive West Ham have largely swept aside the competition in the Europa League with aplomb this year - even with Moyes rotating his resources on a consistent basis - as Mark Noble and Andriy Yarmolenko both netted in a routine 2-0 success over Rapid Vienna in midweek.
The Hammers go into Sunday's game having sealed their place in the last-16 of Europe's secondary competition, but there was little to celebrate during their most recent Premier League battle as Raul Jimenez's effort won the day for Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 1-0 defeat at Molineux.
Having now lost a bit of ground on the teams above them, West Ham remain firmly in contention for a Champions League place as they occupy fourth spot in the rankings, but Arsenal could move level on points with their London counterparts this weekend.
Defeat to Wolves ended a four-game winning streak for West Ham in the top flight and marked the first time that they had lost a Premier League game away from home since April, and not since beating Manchester United in 2001 have the capital outfit won against the reigning champions away from home.
The Hammers have already claimed a memorable scalp over City this term - ending their perennial reign of dominance in the EFL Cup via a penalty shoot-out - but they are winless in 11 Premier League matches versus the Citizens since a 2-1 Etihad win in September 2015.
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Team News
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City are set to be sweating over the fitness of both Jack Grealish and Phil Foden, with the former still nursing a knock and his compatriot missing the win over PSG due to an unspecified issue.
Kevin De Bruyne is also unlikely to return from coronavirus infection just yet, and Ferran Torres is out for the long term, so Jesus will certainly hope to earn a recall after having a direct hand in both of his side's goals in midweek.
Aymeric Laporte will also be eyeing a recall to the backline over John Stones, while Cole Palmer took to the field from the off against Everton but will have a hard time holding his place this week.
As for West Ham, long-term victim Angelo Ogbonna is the only concern for Moyes at this moment in time, as the Scotsman prepares to reintroduce all of his big-hitters to the first XI, starting with Lukasz Fabianski displacing Alphonse Areola in goal.
Ben Johnson, Kurt Zouma and Aaron Cresswell will take their places in defence, as Declan Rice displaces Mark Noble in the engine room alongside Tomas Soucek.
Michail Antonio was granted a complete rest in midweek as he prepares to form the regular attacking line with Pablo Fornals, Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen once more.
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo; Silva, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Johnson, Zouma, Dawson, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma; Antonio
We say: Manchester City 2-1 West Ham United
A first-choice City backline will still have a hard time keeping out Moyes's inspired attackers on home soil, and injuries to the hosts could have the travelling contingent feeling confident about their prospects of a shock result.
The visitors' established names will certainly have the fresher legs on the pitch too and should give the champions a good run for their money, but City's goal threats in all areas of the pitch should help get them over the line.
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Manchester City win with a probability of 63%. A draw had a probability of 20.1% and a win for West Ham United had a probability of 16.91%.
The most likely scoreline for a Manchester City win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.91%) and 1-0 (9.35%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.36%), while for a West Ham United win it was 1-2 (4.69%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Manchester City in this match.
