Manchester City vs West Ham preview, H2H, team news, line-ups and prediction

Manchester City welcome West Ham United to the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League grand finale on Sunday and will aim for victory to clinch their fourth straight Premier League title. 

The curtains of the 2023-24 Premier League season are set to fall on Sunday in what will be a thrilling ending. Fans across the blue side of Manchester and the red side of North London will be treated to a nail-biting experience as both sets of supporters will hope their teams secure victory while expecting a slip-up from their League rival.

After matching Sir Alex Ferguson’s record of winning the Premier League title on three consecutive occasions, Pep Guardiola’s side are gearing to clinch an historic fourth consecutive League title this weekend.

They extended their unbeaten run to 21 matches when they travelled to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to face Tottenham on Tuesday. While Arsenal fans hoped their North London neighbours would do them the favour of stopping their title rivals, Spurs fans were seen celebrating with City’s popular ‘Poznan’ celebration when they went behind early in the second half.

The first half of the game was cagy with chances flowing for both teams. Either side could have opened the scoring but heroic saves from Éderson and Guglielmo Vicario kept out goal-bound efforts from Rodrigo Bentancur and Phil Foden while a superb goal line block from Radu Dragusin denied the defending champions from taking the lead.

City showed their superior quality early in the second half when Kevin De Bruyne provided his 12th assist to Erling Haaland since the Norwegian’s arrival to keep City’s title hopes alive.

Arsenal fans were given hope of a title chance when Son Heung-Min raced through on goal, only to be denied by a stupendous save from Stefan Ortega. Fans with Manchester City tickets had their No.2 goalkeeper to thank for keeping their title dreams on track.

Haaland doubled City’s lead late in the second half to take City back to the summit of the Premier League table. They now gear up to face a West Ham side that will be preparing for the best possible parting gift to their head coach, David Moyes.

The Scottish manager will be leaving the club after four and half years, leading them to their historic Europa Conference League title– their first-ever trophy since 1980.

Despite a poor run of results in their past couple of matches, Moyes ensured that the Hammers won their last home game of the season when they hosted relegation-bound Luton Town at the Olympic Stadium.

The Hatters got off to a flying start when on-loan Arsenal midfielder, Albert Sambi Lokonga connected to Alfie Doherty’s cross to head home the opener.

Hopes of safety were boosted when they held on to finish the half but were left red-faced when James Ward-Prowse struck home his seventh goal of the season to draw the tide level before Tomas Soucek’s swift volley put the Hammers in front.

Mohammed Kudus was once again as lively as he has been all season when he glided past a couple of challenges in Luton’s box before laying a pass to 19-year-old George Earthy to score his first Premier League goal in just his second appearance for the Hammers.

The Hammers will travel to the e Etihad with the ‘show spoilers’ tag and will hope to end a run of three straight defeats against the Cityzens.

Man City Vs West Ham match details

• Date: Sunday, 19 May, 2024
• Location: Manchester, England
• Venue: Etihad Stadium
• Kick-off time: 04:00 PM BST, 11:00 AM ET, 3:00 PM UTC
• Referee: John Brooks
• Assistant referees: Lee Betts, Akil Howson
• Fourth official: Sam Allison
• VAR: Jarred Gillett
•  Assistant VAR: Tim Wood

Match stats and head-to-head

• These two sides have met 120 times with City dominating this fixture with 63 wins while West Ham have only won this fixture 38 times and 19 of these encounters have ended in a draw.

• West Ham have conceded 71 goals in the Premier League this season, their joint-highest tally since conceding the same number of goals in the 2010-11 season.

•City will be heading into the final fixture of the season sitting on top of the Premier League table for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. They have gone on to win the title on all six occasions.

• De Bruyne has provided 12 assists to Erling Haaland since last season, more than any other player has provided for his teammate within that run.

• De Bruyne has recorded 10+ assists in six different seasons in the Premier League, the joint-most in the League alongside Cesc Fabregas. His assist against Haaland meant the Belgian has now provided 112 assists in the competition, the second most behind Ryan Giggs with 162.

• Haaland’s 63 goals in 65 Premier League appearances is the most by any player across two seasons, surpassing Andy Cole with 55.

• The Hammers have picked up only two wins in their last ten Premier League matches, recording four draws and four defeats in that run.

• Only Phil Foden(46) has scored more goals in the Premier League than Jarrod Bowen(34) among English players.

• Chelsea are the only side to be awarded more penalties (12) than City this season(10).

• The Hammers have conceded the most number of penalties in the Premier League this season with 10.

Team news

One week after having a fully fit squad in the 4:0 win over Fulham, Guardiola will be without some of his first-team regulars including the first-choice goalkeeper, Ederson who has substituted in the second half against Tottenham. The Brazilian suffered a fractured eye socket following a collision with Spurs defender, Christian Romero and is a doubt for City’s League decider against West Ham.

De Bruyne was taken off in the second half with an ankle problem and will undergo tests to determine his availability on Sunday.

For the Hammers, Kalvin Philips’ disastrous loan spell will be reaching its completion and the 28-year-old will not take part against his parent club.

Dinos Mavropanos missed the clash against Luton with a knock and will undergo fitness tests ahead of the trip to Manchester. Nayef Aguerd is also out of contention with an ankle injury.

Lucas Paqueta is expected to shake off any niggling concerns to be fully fit to face City on Sunday.

Predicted starting lineup Man City predicted starting lineup

Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne; Doku, Haaland, Foden.

West Ham predicted starting lineup:

Areola; Coufal, Zouma, Ogbonna, Emerson; Soucek, Alvarez; Kudus, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta; Bowen.

Prediction 

City have shown immense dominance in the League and have proven it takes more than just 84 points to usurp them to the League title.

Liverpool’s 97 points in the 2018-19 season where they finished second proved that City will never let the title slip without putting up top-gear performances that will break records and set new ones.

With this, the Hammers are not perceived to be much of a threat in this title-deciding clash and Guardiola’s side will look to extend their scoring streak against the Hammers beyond 18 goals in just three matches.

Victory over City will be the best sending-off party for Moyes but it seems far from being achieved considering their dwindling form and City’s rampaging form.

We’re predicting a 3:0 win for Manchester City.