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Can West Ham stop the rot?

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Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Manchester City v West Ham United - Etihad StadiumIt has been another depressing weekend for West Ham. A poor display against Stoke somehow enabled us to lead for the majority of the game, only to have Stoke refuse to go quietly – and inevitably, they scored in the last minute to walk away from Upton Park with a deserved point. We’ve had just one win in our last ten games, and the team barely look interested in playing.

So let’s just take a minute for the sheer joy that is having to play our next game against Manchester City.

It could be a hammering for the Hammers – but there’s just one thing. When it comes to form and a negative turn in results, we’re not all that different from our next opponents.

Manchester City also started the season strongly, but four recent loses and a draw to Hull all but stopped their hopes of winning the Premier League. West Ham have struggled since December, and a slew of poor results have had the Hammers barely clutching on to ninth place. Subsequent losses to Leicester City and Crystal Palace (and throwing away all three points against Stoke in the last minute of the game) have been part of a distressing run of form.

Both West Ham and Manchester City started so brightly and then slipped. We’ve gone from fourth to ninth and killed off our European dreams, while Manchester City have gone from second to fourth – and a recent string of bad losses have all but killed their title dreams. Both teams have lost to former relegation candidates (and now table climbers) Crystal Palace recently, with West Ham losing 3-1 and City losing 2-1.

These results have led to much speculation about the future of the managers of each respective club. Manchester City’s Manuel Pellegrini is under tremendous pressure after this weekend’s 4-2 loss to Manchester United, whilst Sam Allardyce has admitted that if this run in form had come at the beginning of the season, he’d have been sacked on the spot.

So, given the above, what can we expect from our game against City next weekend?

Well, it might actually be a good game. West Ham play to the level of their opposition – we looked excellent against Manchester United, Spurs, and Chelsea – so we may put in a good show against a City team who are above us in the table.

Most likely, this game will come down to confidence. Both Manchester City and West Ham have been dealt severe blows to their confidence by their recent results, and this game will be won by the team that shakes off the cloud of negativity hanging over them.

The slight advantage we have heading into this game is that we know we can beat Man City – after all, we did it once this season, and should all our players be available to us, we could do it again. After all, if Burnley can comfortably take four points off Manchester City this season, there is no reason West Ham can’t aim for all six. These points are ours for the taking, but we have to commit to positive football – and cannot afford a repeat of the lack-lustre display we’ve put on in recent games.

How do you think we’ll fare against City? Do we have a chance, or will they bounce back from victory against United with a victory against us?

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3 comments

  • Kenny Irons says:

    One big difference -they have vastly superior players to us. A better bet is we will get out of our half ?? Doubtful…….6-0 to City. Hopefully, then, we can put Allardyce out to grass and be a FOOTBALL team again.

  • Dr. Max Willow says:

    Provided that Stewart Downing, Nene, and possibly, Matt Jarvis are used in a central attacking mode (either singularly or as a duet) together with the hopeful availability of Enner Valencia, we could go to Manchester with something resembling a forward line.
    Morgan Amalfitano could be used as an offensive left mid-fielder (covering the shift of Downing and Cheikou Kouyate could be used behind the strikers, adding to the potential of the players mentioned to date. Alex Song could move to a central-midfield role, where his play-maker role would be obtained.
    Should the manager start with Carlton Cole and/ or Nolan in the starting line-up, we may really be in for a likely loss

    • b Davis says:

      Max willow you are completely clueless. Mat Jarvis you must be having a laugh and Stewart downing apart from the Chelsea game has not played well since Christmas downing by a country mile was are worst player Saturday followed by noble who was also terrible the players are just going through the motions, and we will get totally outplayed by city with a heavy loss

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