The pick of the third round FA Cup ties is an all-Premiership affair that sees Man City travel to West Ham’s shiny new London Stadium. Pep Guardiola’s men have performed below expectations in the league, leaving them 12.00 to win the Premiership, so the cup may well be their best shot of glory. But West Ham are improving and will give them a tough game.
A decent run of results has seen the Hammers move out of relegation danger and back to the relative safety of mid-table, so they can afford to take the FA Cup seriously this season. They made the League Cup quarter-finals, only to be knocked out by Man Utd, so Slaven Bilic will be desperate to stop another Manchester club ending their chances of winning this one.
On paper, West Ham look a good cup side. They are combative, good at attacking set pieces and full of potential match winners. Andy Carroll is a handful and if he starts he would give City’s questionable defence a tough game. They will feel they are in with a chance of winning this one and you would expect Bilic to field a strong starting 11.
But this game could be even more crucial for Man City and Guardiola. They made a superb start to their Premiership season under the new manager, but have since fallen well behind leaders Chelsea. With the way they have been defending they don’t look like making up the gap, and the recent 1-0 defeat at the hands of top four rivals Liverpool will give fans cause for alarm. They are already out of the League Cup, and are not expected to win the Champions League, where they are fifth favourites behind Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
The FA Cup then could be their great shot at silverware this season. They are another team with all the ingredients to go on a strong cup run: dazzling attackers, so many match winners and the sort of swashbuckling style that can serve teams well in knockout competitions. They have arguably the best attack in the league, with the likes of Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Nolito, Yaya Toure and Raheem Sterling able to cut through opposition defences with pace and incision. It is their defence that has let them down this season, as they have shipped the most goals in the top six league teams, and their tactics have at times been questionable, sending too many men forward and leaving horrendous gaps at the back, while also getting into serious trouble while trying to play their way out of defence rather than lumping the ball up-field. There are also serious question marks over goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
That said, West Ham are another team with an extremely dodgy defence. Only five Premiership teams have conceded more goals than them this season, and they have struggled against the elite teams. They conceded five against Arsenal, four against Man Utd and three against Tottenham, while they also lost 3-1 to City earlier this season. West Ham just aren’t the sort of side that can park the bus, soak up pressure and hit better teams on the counterattack. They play good football and it can cost them.
You would fancy Man City to win this one thanks to their attacking prowess, and the 1.77 Unibet is offering on the away win looks good. Neither team is very good at defending so you would also expect to see goals, and the 2.05 Ladbrokes has on Man City winning and over 1.5 goals looks good, as does the 2.65 it has on Man City and over 2.5 goals.
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