The first FA Cup Third Round tie is an all-Premier League affair as West Ham host Manchester City on Friday night.
A couple of weeks ago it had looked like West Ham had been relieved of their woes as they recorded three Premier League victories on the bounce – two of them to nil. However, recent losses against Leicester City and Manchester United sees them stagnating down in 13th.
As mentioned above, two of The Hammers’ three recent victories were to nil scorelines and so it looked like the defence, which was so shocking earlier in the campaign, had been repaired. Unfortunately they have now failed to keep a clean sheet in their last three games and it seems their striking department has hit a bit of brick wall having failed to register in either of those defeats.
Despite losing their latest home match against Manchester United, it seems Slaven Bilic’s side are getting used to their new home with two 1-0 victories prior to that defeat.
Early season frontrunners Manchester City are now seven points off top spot after Chelsea’s incredibly winning streak. Although they won last time out against Burnley, The Citizens recently lost a vital title clash against Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola’s side are excellent going forward and are up amongst the division’s top goalscorers with 41, however, this is still the worst record in the top four. Defence has been the main problem for City this season as it seems there is always a mistake lurking in that back-line which an opponent can take advantage of.
City are not the best away from home having only won two of their last five on the road in all competitions.
It will be interesting to see how much priority Guardiola gives the FA Cup this season as his concerns clearly lie in the Premier League and Champions League.
Having said that, even if they rest players, City have the strength to beat a West Ham side that really isn’t looking at it’s best. However, with their defence looking so leaky, the visitors will have to rely on out-scoring their opponents no doubt, something they are more than familiar with, and thus ‘Man City to Win & Both Teams to Score’ at odds of 11/5 is the bet in this one.
See more FA Cup tips here.