Manchester City vs. West Ham: Complete EPL Preview and Stats Breakdown

Match: Manchester City (2nd place in BPL) v. West Ham United (10th place in BPL).

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK.

Date: 27 April 2013.

Time: 12:45 p.m. BST/7:45 a.m. EDT/4:45 a.m. PT.

Odds (per Ladbrokes): Manchester City win 1/4; Draw 9/2; West Ham United win 11/1.

Broadcast: ESPN2.

Manchester City Leading Scorers: Edin Dzeko (12), Carlos Tevez (11), Sergio Aguero (10).

West Ham United Leading Scorers: Kevin Nolan (7), Andy Carroll (6), Mark Noble (4).

Manchester City Form Last Five (BPL): L,W,W,W,L.

West Ham United Form Last Five (BPL): W,D,D,D,W.

There are only two logical reasons why Manchester City, who just lost embarrassingly at White Hart Lane, are a 1/4 favorite to win their upcoming match against West Ham United:

• City, hearing footsteps from Arsenal and Chelsea, will be very keen to strengthen their grip on second place in the league, and
• West Ham's away form is abject (three wins, four draws and 10 losses)

West Ham dealt City's title hopes one of those "death by a thousand cuts" blows in holding City to a scoreless draw at Upton Park in November. City failed to score despite raining 22 shots on West Ham United keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

As for City, the late collapse against Tottenham Hotspur was actually preceded by a fine run of form, with quality victories over Manchester United at Old Trafford and an FA Cup semifinal win over Chelsea in the past few weeks.

City's last two league losses at Tottenham Hotspur and at Everton are no disgrace considering the positions of those two clubs in the table and how well they defend their home parks.

Of course, that is not necessarily enough to let City boss Roberto Mancini sleep at night. But he should feel more comfortable knowing that David Silva will be back in the side, per ESPN.com.

Key Battles 

Manchester City against the parked bus and Manchester City against the counter-attack. At home in November, West Ham played for and got a draw while ceding 65 percent of the possession to the Sky Blues and never forcing City keeper Joe Hart to make a save.

In this road tilt, figure West Ham to be as conservative as before if not more so.

Predicted lineups

Manchester City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy; Nasri, Yaya Toure, Silva, Barry; Tevez, Aguero.

West Ham United: Jaaskelainen; Reid, O'Brien, Collins, Demel; Nolan, Jarvis, Vaz Te, Diame, Noble; Cole.

Prediction: Manchester City 2-0 West Ham United.