Maine Road
Saturday 28th April, 2001West Ham
United35Games35 ATTACKING 38Goals
scored411.09Ave goals per game1.1742%Shooting Accuracy44%11%Goals
to shots
%10% PASSING 12716Passes1278167%Pass
completion %69% DEFENDING 74%Tackle
success rate %71%61Goals conceded471.74Ave goals conceded per
game1.34 DISCIPLINE 585Fouls45860Yellow
cards623Red cards2
Manchester City v West Ham United
If Manchester City fail to secure all three points against West Ham on Saturday and results elsewhere go against them, then by 5.00pm Joe Royle's team will know their fate.
Unlike fellow newcomers Charlton and the mightily impressive Ipswich, the Citizens have failed to find their feet in the Premiership this time around. Eighteen league defeats is testament to their struggle and the yo-yoing from one division to the next looks set to continue.
The Blues are the only top-flight side to have leaked more than 60 goals this term, despite spending £7 million on four defenders between the months of August and October 2000. Indeed, they have not maintained a clean sheet for seven games, during which time they won just once.
Opponents West Ham - who are still not assured of safety - are also suffering a bout of inconsistency, which has yielded just one victory in eight attempts.
It has been a massively disappointing campaign for Harry Redknapp, who is now counting down the days until summer: "I just want to get to the end of the season, get enough points on the board and hopefully we can then go and get two or three players in the summer and start again."
One of the bright spots for the east Londoners was a vintage display against City on Remembrance Day when they came from a goal behind to run out 4-1 winners. The Hammers are ambitious going forward and only four teams have attempted more shots than them over the course of the season. They have landed 44% of their efforts on target - marginally better than the Citizens - but the hosts boast a superior goals-to-shots ratio.
Although previously out of favour, Paulo Wanchope has been restored to the starting XI for the last four outings and netted his ninth goal of the season with a cheeky back-heel at Filbert Street. The unpredictable Coast Rican is rated at 5/1 to grab the opener against the Hammers.
Royle will be looking for a repeat of the committed display that he witnessed against the champions last weekend, when seven different City players registered a 100% tackle success rate in the heat of the battle.
Alfie Haaland and Joe Cole will be able to compare war wounds after being on the receiving end of red-card worthy challenges a week ago. Yet with so much at stake, this game could prove equally as ferocious, especially considering that both teams have already amassed 60 yellow cards this term
Mark Willis
Matchday Referee: P Jones
Maine Road will be cauldron of tension and passion at the weekend and Peter Jones is the man responsible for keeping everything in order. The Loughbrough-based official has risen to the top half of the referees' table having dished out an average of 3.04 cards per game.
Referee's Name FoulsPenaltiesYellow CardsRed CardsAve Disc pointsP Jones418144242.39
PLAYER HEAD-TO-HEAD
click below for in-depth comparisonWanchope v Di Canio
TEAM NEWS Man City are without long-term absentees
Shaun Wright-Phillips and Kevin Horlock. Stuart Pearce returns
after a three-match suspension for West Ham. Joe Cole and Igor
Stimac are struggling with hamstring strains while Frederic Kanoute
is battling a hip injury. FIRST GOALSCORER ODDS
click odds to place bet Man City:
Wanchope5/1Goater11/2Dickov11/2Huckerby6/1Ostenstad7/1Kanchelskis12/1Kennedy16/1Haaland16/1<
Grant25/1Tiatto25/1Jeff
Whitley33/1Wiekens33/1Prior33/1Howey33/1Granville33/1Charvet40/1Dunne50/1No
Goalscorer17/2 West Ham:
Di Canio 11/2Kanoute 11/2Todorov 13/2Diawara 8/1Lampard
12/1Cole12/1Carrick 16/1Moncur 20/1I Pearce 33/1Stimac 33/1S Pearce
33/1Foxe 50/1Winterburn 50/1Dailly 50/1Soma 50/1Song66/1 No
Goalscorer17/2For all these bets + goalcasts go now
to www.surreySPORTS.com ODDS
click odds to place bet11/10 Manchester City win12/5 Draw 15/8 West
Ham win Manchester CityCorrect
ScoreWest
Ham6/11-07/18/12-012/17/12-110/116/13-033/116/13-125/125/13-228/140/14-0100/133/14-180/150/14-280/1100/15-0100/1100/15-1100/117/20-017/26/11-16/116/12-216/150/13-350/1Half-Time/Full
Time5/2Manchester CityManchester City16/1Manchester
CityDraw33/1Manchester CityWest Ham4/1DrawManchester
City4/1DrawDraw11/2DrawWest Ham28/1West HamManchester City16/1West
HamDraw4/1West HamWest HamFor all these bets + many more go
now to www.surreySPORTS.com
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