DEFENDING English Premier League champions Manchester City will commence their season on Sunday when they lock horns with West Ham United at London Stadium.
Pep Guardiola's star-studded side pipped Liverpool to the league title in a dramatic final day of the 2021/22 campaign, as the Citizens clinched their fourth crown in five years.
Now armed with Erling Haaland, who banged in 85 goals in 88 matches for Borussia Dortmund, City are general 4/6 favourites to lift the trophy once again.
However, after falling to a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in last Saturday's Community Shield, boss Guardiola will demand an immediate response when his team embark on their title defence in East London this weekend.
As for West Ham, they produced another memorable campaign last time around, reaching the Europa League semi-finals and securing a top-seven finish in the Premier League in the process.
While closing the gap on the top-six could prove tougher than ever this term, David Moyes' men will be quietly confident that they can use their excellent 2021-22 campaign as a platform to become consistent top-six contenders.
Outright Betting
West Ham United held Man City to a well-deserved 2-2 draw at this venue in May but the same outcome on Sunday is an unfancied 9/2 (Bet 365) while a Hammers victory is as big as 8/1 (Bet 365) with the same firm.
Manchester City have avoided defeat in each of their last 18 Premier League away matches and that is reflected in the odds, with City short-priced 1/3 (Bet 365) favourites.
Betting Angles
There is little value in siding with Manchester City at the aforementioned odds so I'll head to Bet 365‘s Bet Builder to get a bigger price by combining Man City to win, under five match goals and over zero match cards at 5/6 (Bet 365).
As already alluded to, Man City didn’t get their campaign off to the greatest of starts with a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Community Shield and it may take their new look side a few weeks to hit top gear.
Sure the Blue Moon are capable of blowing teams away with a seemingly endless supply of goals , but it's worth noting that 19 of their 28 top-flight triumphs last term featured fewer than five match strikes, one of which was against West Ham.
As for West Ham, 12 of their 14 Premier League losses last season went under the 4.5 goal barrier, so there’s plenty of reason to believe the Hammers can keep this contest competitive, especially in front of their own supporters.
With this in mind, I'm happy to merge a Manchester City win and under five match strikes, but to boost the price, I'll also throw a minimum of one match booking into the mix.
Although referee Michal Oliver was a standard-frequency cards issuer in the Premier League last season with an average of 36.73 Booking Points per-game, he has dished out at least one card in each of his last 24 top-flight assignments.
One player who could be worth considering for a caution is West Ham's Vladimír Coufal who has been priced up at 9/2 with Bet 365 to have his name taken.
The Czech defender could have his hands full here against much-maligned Man City superstar Jack Grealish, who was the most-fouled player in the 2020/21 Premier League season by some distance.
This English Premier League match between West Ham United and Manchester City will be played on Aug 7, 2022 and kick off at 16:30. Check below for our tipsters best West Ham United vs Manchester City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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