Manchester City have been watching their season slip away, but can at least stop the bleeding with a win against West Ham.
It's been a rough ride for Manchester City of late, losing their last two matches and only winning twice in all competitions since beating Newcastle in February, a stretch that has seen them lose six out of eight matches. Injuries have piled on poor play, and they've gone from competing for the Premier League title to scrambling to find a way to simply stay in the top four.
While they're not at risk of falling out of the Champions League qualification places just yet -- they have a four-point lead on Liverpool right now, though the fifth place side will have a game in hand after this weekend -- they can't afford to drop many more points, especially after getting passed by rival Manchester United, who are threatening to pull away in third place. They have a chance to stop their slide against West Ham, who have won just twice in all of 2015 and have lost four of their last six matches. If City can't manage a win here, things will look bleak indeed in the blue side of Manchester.
Key player - David Silva (Manchester City)
Already the creative nexus of City on most days, with so much of the rest of the team struggling to produce consistent quality, the load is going to be heavily on the Spaniard's shoulders to make things happen for Manchester in attack. He's going to have to be on his game to keep from getting marked out by West Ham's midfield, because if he does, City might not have a lot of other options to build up their attack with the way things have been going.
Key Matchup - Yaya Toure (Manchester City) vs. Stewart Downing (West Ham)
Yaya Toure has been woefully out of form of late, not giving City his typical attacking edge and barely offering a thing in defense. That's an opportunity that Stewart Downing is going to have to try to exploit, utilizing the spaces left behind Toure to help create chances for West Ham to exploit an increasingly shaky City back line.
Manchester City injuries and suspensions
Out: Vincent Kompany (suspended/thigh) In doubt: Gaël Clichy (muscular), James Milner (knee), Dedrick Boyata (muscular), Stevan Jovetic (muscular), Wilfried Bony (ankle)
West Ham United injuries and suspensions
Out: Andy Carroll (knee), James Tomkins (shoulder) In doubt: Enner Valencia (ankle), Diafra Sakho (thigh)
Manchester City's defense took a big blow when Vincent Kompany went down with a thigh injury, potentially losing him for the rest of the season. West Ham, meanwhile, may have to start Carlton Cole at striker if neither of Enner Valencia or Diafra Sakho can recover in time to play, as both are questions with leg injuries.
Match Date/Time: Sunday, 8:30 a.m. ET, 1:30 p.m. local
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England
TV: NBCSN (U.S. - English), NBC Universo (U.S. - Spanish), TSN 1, 3, 4, 5 (Canada), Sky Sports 1/HD (U.K.)
Online: NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S.), Sky Go (U.K.)
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1cKlICZ
No comments:
Post a Comment