West Ham - Manchester City

[Giovanni]

27.10.21 - 20:45 CET

EFL Cup - 1/8-finals
Manchester City is one of the strongest teams in England, along with Chelsea and Liverpool, and has only the highest ambitions every year. They wants to collect trophies. The EFL Cup may be the least prestigious trophy in England, but it could almost be called Pep Guardiola's trophy. He's won it four times in a row with Manchester City. His success rate in this competition has been phenomenal, losing only one game in five editions, and that was in his first season in Manchester against rivals United.
Manchester has the advantage of having an incredibly wide squad, so they can afford to rotate their players. That's why I don't think they'll field a B team against West Ham either. They probably won't field quite the strongest lineup, but even if players who are normally on the bench or talents from the upcoming generation get a chance, it will still be an extremely quality team.

West Ham this year are playing in the European cup, specifically the Europa League, for the first time in a long time. WHU of course doesn't have as wide and quality a squad as City, making it much harder for them to rotate players in three competitions. And the priority is definitely Premier League, then Europa League and only far after that EFL Cup.

Manchester are doing well against West Ham, winning twelve of their last 13 games and drawing once.

As much respect as I have for West Ham, I don't think they can stop Manchester City in EFL Cup. City have been in great form recently and I expect them to win again and reach the quarter-finals.

My bet:
Asian Handicap: Manchester City -1.0 @ 1.72 (bet365)

 

[Hellscream]

My tip:
Over 9,5 corner kicks @ 1,90

This is the type of match where I would expect corner kicks. If we look into Man City's schedule (Crystal Palace H on Saturday, Brugge H on Wednesday), we could assume they will try to make the lead asap so Pep will know who he can rest or sub in the second half. I'm convinced EPL and UCL is still far more important to Pep.
Then there is West Ham, while I expect them to get under pressure, I think they will make many attacks if they fall one or two goals behind. This scenario of West Ham losing after the first half and both teams getting corners as a result is the most probable one in my eyes.

Other scenarios could be West Ham leading -> City would get corner kicks for sure, or when the score will be leveled I think the teams will NOT avoid corner kicks as it's the free time to rest a little and while both teams are in the European cups I expect both teams not to go completely out of fuel in this hectic period of season.

 

[Giovanni]

My bet:
Asian Handicap: Manchester City -1.0 @ 1.72 (bet365)

FT: West Ham 0:0 Manchester City (5:3 after penalty shootout)

Bet KO

 

[Malchus]

Everyone's going to talk about City losing but from a firm B team West Ham that was a great performance all round.

But the best is Johnson. He's played 7 games this season, won all of them, again without conceding a single goal. City, United and Spurs included in there too.

 

[Jake]

Best thing for the competition. I think everyone is sick of City winning it all the time.

 

[Lucas]

knocking Man United and Man City out of the cup in their first two rounds? Yes, I'm cheering for West Ham United for the rest of the EFL Cup!