Follow West Ham v Man City: Match Day LIVE
The Belgian is back in the squad after a two-game absence for an injury picked up on international duty as Pep Guardiola keeps faith with the team that beat Porto 3-1 in midweek.
The City boss had hinted not all of his injured players would recover in time and that means there is no place for Nathan Ake or Aymeric Laporte.
Ederson and Kyle Walker makes their 150th appearance for the Club in all competitions.
Teams
CITY: Ederson, Walker, Garcia, Dias, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Gundogan, Bernardo, Mahrez, Sterling (C), Aguero.
SUBS: Steffen, Stones, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Foden, Torres, Palmer.
WEST HAM: Fabianski, Coufal, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku, Bowen, Soucek, Rice, Fornals, Antonio.
SUBS: Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Noble, Haller, Diop, Fredericks, Randolph.
Formation
An unchanged team suggests an unchanged set-up so it looks like it will be the usual 4-3-3 formation for City.
Joao Cancelo should again take the left-back role, with Kyle Walker on the opposite flank and Eric Garcia and Ruben Dias at centre-half.
Rodrigo, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva will comprise the midfield three and Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling will be either side of Sergio Aguero.
WATCH: Guardiola: London Stadium record is history
Can Sterling strike again?
Sterling boasts a remarkable record against today’s opponents.
City’s No.7 has scored six goals and provided five assists in his past six Premier League starts against West Ham, including a hat-trick in this fixture last season.
The winger, who captains the team for the third game in a row, is on a good run of form having netted in the previous two league games and claimed an assist against Porto.
He is facing a Hammers team who produced some impressive results so far this season, winning comfortably against Wolves and Leicester City before last weekend’s inspired fightback against Tottenham Hotspur.
No doubt that will give them confidence, but perhaps that can play into City’s hands and if the home side choose to adopt a more adventurous game plan it could give Sterling an opportunity to exploit gaps in defence.
Stats and facts
- We have won all five of our away matches in all competitions at the London Stadium by an aggregate score of 22-1, scoring at least four times in each.
- We have scored in 18 consecutive matches against West Ham in all competitions, dating back to November 2012.
- Defeat for West Ham would equal their club record of 10 successive losses against one opponent, set against Arsenal between 2010 to 2015.
- Pep Guardiola has won all nine of his matches against West Ham by an aggregate score of 30-3. It is the joint-best 100% win ratio of his career along with fixtures against Watford and Bournemouth.
- Raheem Sterling has been directly involved in 11 goals in his past six league starts against West Ham (six goals and five assists). He scored a hat-trick at the London Stadium in City’s 5-0 win last season.
