Match Today: Manchester City vs West Ham United 07-08-2022 English Premier League

West Ham United and Manchester City meet in the opening weekend of the new Premier League season, with both teams hoping to collect three points. Manchester City begin another Premier League title defense with a difficult trip to West Ham United on Sunday, as the England champions face David Moyes' side in the opening match of the Premier League 2022/23 at the London Stadium. In the Premier League title race by two points last season, he showed his intention in the summer transfer window. During the departure of Raheem Sterling and Oleksandr Zinchenko, a world-class striker arrived in the form of Erling Haaland, along with another young attacking talent in Julian Alvarez. Manchester City have also boosted their star-studded midfield roster with the addition of Calvin Phillips, as they look to defend the Premier League title. However, the champions had a difficult start to the new season, losing 3-1 to Liverpool in the FA Shield.

While West Ham United are by no means a light business, Manchester City will want to set the record straight with a sure victory at the London Stadium. In the meantime, the hosts will feel they have every chance of reaching the top four after another fruitful season that saw them reach the semi-finals of the Europa League and finish seventh in the Premier League. However West Ham will have to play out of their skin to get a result here. The Hammers look a lot stronger than they were last season and have acted smartly in the market to bolster their squad depth. After beating over their weight in past seasons, they have achieved real quality in Gianluca Scamaca, Naif Accord, Flynn Downs, Alphonse Areola and Maxwell Corni.

West Ham were below par in pre-season and finished the 2021/22 Premier League season poorly. While Moyes' side failed to score a single win against Manchester City in the original time, they managed to knock Pep Guardiola's men out of the UEFA Cup on penalties and also secure a very reliable draw in the league. David Moyes has a lot of pressing fitness issues to deal with before Manchester City visit to London Stadium on Sunday. The West Ham United manager admitted he had "a lot of concerns" about the injury ahead of the game. Moyes did not mention the players he was worried about, but he will miss new centre-back Nayef Aguerd, who is out for ten weeks after undergoing surgery for an ankle injury. during the pre-season. Angelo Ogbonna is continuing his rehabilitation after missing most of last season with an ACL injury, but is no longer fit enough to return, while summertime singers Gianluca Scamaca and Maxwell Cornet are not yet ready to appear.

Moyes is set to continue the 4-2-3-1 formation he mostly used last season. Lukasz Fabianski will continue to score for West Ham and Alphonse Areola, his deputy. The rest of the starting eleven are largely self-chosen. Said Benrahma, Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen will appear just before the midfield duo as part of West Ham's attack, with the England player going to be the biggest contributor to the Premier League last season. West Ham's attack could be topped by Michael Antonio, who suffered a dip in form at the end of last season. Aymeric Laporte is the most notable absentee from Manchester City after undergoing surgery for a knee injury earlier this summer. The Spain international is not expected to return until September at the earliest. Leaving that aside, Pep Guardiola has a full-strength squad to pick from his starting eleven. Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez and Calvin Phillips are expected to make their Premier League debuts for Manchester City here, with Alvarez and Phillips expected to play on the bench. It looks like Manchester City are ready to join Guardiola's usual 4-3-3 style. When Ederson Moraes is fit, he's a sure-footed player, and companion man Nathan Ake appears set to partner with Ruben Dias at Manchester City's central defence, where John Stones lacks match fitness.