The defending champions, Manchester City, begin the defence of their title this season with a match at West Ham United. The game will take place on Saturday 10th August at the London Stadium and is the early kick-off for the day.
West Ham United finished 10th in the Premier League season and will be hoping to push toward the European places in this campaign. The Hammers have not been shy in the transfer market and have added two good players in Pablo Fornals from Villarreal and Sebastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Both players come with a good reputation and it will be interesting to see what they can add to the West Ham team.
Preseason has seen West Ham defeat Fulham and Hertha Berlin plus draw with Athletic Club before losing via a penalty shootout. Home form was decent in the Premier League last season and West Ham lost only one of their last nine games. They defeated Southampton, Huddersfield Town, Newcastle United, Fulham and Arsenal during that run of matches.
However, trends show West Ham conceded 2 or more goals in three of their last four home Premier League game and they will need to improve defensively to keep out Manchester City. The home fans will be hoping they can continue to score goals, having netted 2 or more in five of their last six home Premier League matches.
Manchester City concluded their preseason fixtures with a Community Shield win over Liverpool at Wembley.Manchester City took the lead in the first half but could not hold on as Liverpool forced an equaliser. However, they kept their cool from the penalty spot to seal the win and bring home the first silverware of the season.
View this post on Instagram Behind the scenes at Wembley as we successfully defended the Community Shield 🏆 A post shared by Manchester City (@mancity) on Aug 6, 2019 at 4:01am PDT
Behind the scenes at Wembley as we successfully defended the Community Shield 🏆
A post shared by Manchester City (@mancity) on Aug 6, 2019 at 4:01am PDT
Pep Guardiola has made one major signing to date this summer with the addition of defensive midfielder Rodri from Atletico Madrid for a fee of around £60 million. Fabian Delph has been the only significant outgoing.
Trends show Manchester City are on a run of fourteen consecutive wins in the Premier League. It was a tremendous way to finish last season and they have won each of their last seven on the road. Manchester City conceded only 2 goals across those seven games and kept five clean sheets, highlighting how strong they have become defensively.
Team news and West Ham look set to hand Premier League debuts to Pablo Fornals in midfield and Sebastien Haller in attack. Mark Noble is recovering from a leg injury and there are doubts over the fitness of goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
View this post on Instagram 🤫💪🏽😁🙏🏽⚽️ A post shared by Pablo Fornals (@pablofornals) on Jul 31, 2019 at 11:35am PDT
🤫💪🏽😁🙏🏽⚽️
A post shared by Pablo Fornals (@pablofornals) on Jul 31, 2019 at 11:35am PDT
Manchester City could be without Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte plus Riyad Mahrez could be missing due to a medicine concern. Benjamin Mendy is back in training following a knee injury but unlikely to start.
There will be plenty of optimism at the London Stadium but West Ham could not have asked for a tougher opening home match. Manchester City defeated the Hammers 4-0 in the corresponding fixture last season and they are expected to leave with maximum points again this season.