How can West Ham beat Manchester City this weekend?

While Manchester City has been a dominant and formidable team in recent years, no team is invincible and they can be beaten or stopped from winning. Upsets happen in football. If we have a well-thought-out game plan and execute it effectively then of course we have a chance. That is not to deny that it will be difficult against the best club side in England, Europe and probably the World. But they are not immune to defeats and do not win all the time. In their 19 Premier League games on the road on their way to yet another title last season they won 11, drew 4 and lost 4. That means that they didn’t win in 42 per cent of their away games.

Like any football team Manchester City can be beaten through a combination of strategies and factors, which do include luck. I think we can all guess David Moyes’ tactical approach to the game? It has been successful to date in this campaign but have we done our homework? We know their playing style but have we identified any weaknesses in their formation or strategy? Can we adjust our tactics to exploit these weaknesses? Make no mistake, as good as they are they do have weaknesses.

Four teams did beat City last season, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham, and Brentford (twice – home and away!). I’d like to think that we have the resources to study all our opponents in detail but especially those games to try to understand how they were beaten and formulate our plans to achieve this ourselves. Also, there were five drawn games. How did Newcastle, Villa, Everton, Forest and Brighton avoid defeat in games against the champions? They do have areas of vulnerability. Can we capitalise on them? Can we exploit gaps in their defence, pressurise their midfield, disrupt their game plan and create opportunities to score ourselves?

A highly organised defence and disciplined marking are hallmarks of Moyes’ tactics. Narrow defending and numbers behind the ball are key elements that he believes in, with defenders who are able to deal with crosses all day, and hopefully limit shots to long range. Effective pressing can disrupt City’s attacking flow and limit their goal-scoring opportunities, but how deep will we try to defend? Despite our excellent start to the season we haven’t yet kept a clean sheet, conceding one goal in each of our four games. Late goals conceded (in the Bournemouth, Brighton and Luton games highlight the difficulty of maintaining defensive concentration for the full 90 (or 100) minutes. Areola has demonstrated why he is now Moyes’ number one choice and has already made numerous crucial saves. This game should be a real test.

Manchester City always dominate possession whereas our plan generally involves being happy to concede the ball. They attack in numbers and as a result could be susceptible to quick counter attacks. The key to this is the speed of the counter attacking which has been a key feature of our early games. Teams with fast, skillful players have exploited the spaces left behind by City’s attacking players and caught them off guard. Do we have the players who can emulate this? Antonio is a key component of our counter attacking strategy, but the pace of Benrahma and Bowen and the support from Ward Prowse are important too.

Set pieces such as free kicks and corners were a feature of our success a couple of seasons back, but much less so last time. Capitalising on these opportunities and utilising effective set-piece strategies can lead to goals and put Manchester City under pressure. In James Ward-Prowse we have now acquired a master of the set-piece delivery which has already proved fruitful. Also, in the past four games I have been itching to see us get a free kick around 20-25 yards from goal where he is second only to Beckham in his ability to score but alas it hasn’t happened. Perhaps in this game?

I’ve often wondered in the past if we have been fully mentally prepared in advance of games against the top sides. Moyes’ record as a manager in such games is not the best. Approaching the game with a positive mindset, belief in our abilities, and tactical discipline can and will make a difference. Confidence and focus are essential when facing a formidable opponent like City. The confidence in the team appears to be sky-high, perhaps as a result of winning a European trophy last season, and perhaps as a result of the key new signings to replace the loss of Rice. We haven’t yet seen the surprise element of potentially the most exciting signing of them all, Kudus. I have read articles suggesting that he can bring something extra to the team in the same way as Payet did a few years ago. If he can then that will be great, but we will see. Whether or not he will be unleashed from the beginning against City we don’t know yet.

Football is an unpredictable game. If you’ve supported West Ham for any length of time you’ll know that we can be unpredictable from one season to the next, from one game to the next, and even from the first half to the second half of a game. But upsets can happen. Our wins against Chelsea and Brighton were good examples of that. According to the bookmakers’ odds it would be an even bigger upset if we were to win this game. We are upwards of 6/1 to win whilst City are around 2/1 on, with the draw (which wouldn’t be the worst result for us) at 7/2.

While Manchester City are a strong team, perhaps the best around at the moment, and the toughest opponent we are likely to face this season, they are not unbeatable. Can we defy the odds? COYI!