Stefan Ortega Moreno starts in goal, with Ederson on the bench.
“I want to rest Ederson,” said boss Pep Guardiola.
“He played the games every three days and he could play but I thought take a break today and see the game from outside and be ready for the next one.”
Bernardo replaces Ilkay Gundogan, while there is a welcome return for Nathan Ake, in for Manuel Akanji.
Kyle Walker skippers the team this evening.
line-ups
City XI: Ortega Moreno, Walker (c), Ake, Stones, Dias, Rodrigo, Bernardo, Grealish, Mahrez, Alvarez, Haaland
Subs: Ederson, Phillips, Gundogan, Laporte, Gomez, Akanji, Perrone, Foden, Lewis
West Ham XI: Fabianski, Coufal, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Emerson, Downes, Fornals, Paqueta, Bowen, Antonio.
Subs: Areola, Anang, Johnson, Lanzini, Cornet, Ings, Benrahma.
Formation
There are two distinct possibilities formation-wise given the Blues’ starting XI.
One is that City will go 4-2-3-1 and the other is that we will play 4-4-2.
Given the latter is not a regular Pep Guardiola plan, it seems the former is more likely!
That would mean Walker and Ake as full-backs, Ruben Dias and John Stones in central defence with Rodrigo and Bernardo sitting as holding midfielders.
Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez would then form an attacking trio behind Erling Haaland.
As always, it’s likely to be a fluid formation with players taking up a variety of positions as and when required.
No let up for City
One thing is for certain on the season run-in, there will be no let up for City.
The games are coming thick and fast, and every match has plenty riding on it.
Pep Guardiola and his players are rightly focusing on the next game only, and that mantra will last until the end of the campaign.
Arsenal’s win over Chelsea keeps the pressure on the Blues, though the City boss wouldn’t have expected anything less.
West Ham will come to the Etihad looking for points with the Hammers still involved in the relegation scrap.
It means that, aside from minor tweaks to the starting XI, there is little or no room to rest four or five of the team in one go.
hammers Set-piece threat
Guardiola will be wary of giving the Hammers too many set-piece opportunities.
David Moyes’ side have scored six goals from corners in their last six matches and represent a genuine threat from any dead-ball situations around the City box.
The visitors know that few teams can live with the Blues in full flow, so expect them to be trying to get corners and free-kicks in areas where they can cause problems whenever the opportunity arises – and expect City to be very mindful of those statistics.
Stats and milestones
- Erling Haaland has scored 34 Premier League goals in 30 appearances this season for Manchester City – one more goal will see him break the record for goals in a Premier League season; he is currently level with Andrew Cole in 1993-94 and Alan Shearer in 1994-95.
- City are unbeaten in 14 Premier League games against West Ham (W11 D3) since a 2-1 home defeat in September 2015.
- West Ham have taken just four points from their 16 Premier League games against Man City at the Etihad Stadium (W1 D1 L14), conceding at least once in every visit to the ground. Their last top-flight clean sheet away against the Blues was a 1-0 win at Maine Road in April 2003 with David James in goal.
- Since losing 2-1 to Leicester in December 2018, Man City have won each of their last 24 Premier League games on a Wednesday – the longest winning run by a side on a specific day in the competition’s history. Overall, only Man Utd (61%) have a higher win rate on Wednesdays than Man City (60%) in the Premier League (min. 5 games).
- City have scored at least once in each of their last 30 Premier League home games (100 goals in total) since a 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace in October 2021. The Blues have won their last seven at the Etihad, scoring at least twice each time.
- City have won 10 of our last 11 Premier League matches (D1), although we have conceded in nine of those games. The Blues have only kept a clean sheet in 31% of our league games this season (10/32).
- West Ham have scored six goals from corners in their last six Premier League games, two more than they had in their previous 27 matches this season (4).
- City’s Erling Haaland has scored 21 home goals in the Premier League this season – the last player to net more in a single campaign was Thierry Henry in 2003-04 (22 at Highbury).
- With three goals and three assists, Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in six goals in his last three Premier League appearances for City at the Etihad Stadium, assisting at least once in all three.
- West Ham’s Michail Antonio has either scored (2) or assisted (1) a goal in each of his last three Premier League appearances, as many as he had in his previous 21. Only once has he been involved in a goal in four consecutive top-flight games, scoring in four in a row in August/September 2016.
