Man City view: Plenty of anxiety over Irons visit

Scott Loney is a freelance journalist who for the last couple of decades has covered both Manchester teams for the nationals, in addition to both Goal.com and Sky Sports.

He has also been a Manchester City supporter since his old man started taking him from the age of five. He now believes he is getting rightful payback for three decades of pain.

Ask fans of Manchester City their prediction for the game and their Irons’ counterparts have good reasons to arrive at the Etihad Stadium in even more confident mood.

It might come as a bit of a surprise when you consider Manuel Pellegrini’s team are currently running away with it at the top of the Premier League?

The Citizens boast the only 100 per cent record left and have yet to concede a league goal this season.

But one thing our fan base can ever be accused of having is a sense of entitlement which can usually be associated with that lot just outside the Manchester boundary.

Which is why the visit of Slaven Bilic’s team this Saturday has got plenty fearing the worst.

City have been great this season, no two ways about it. There is a wonderful balance which £44m man Raheem Sterling has brought to the side.

If nothing else, his diligent defensive work has turned Serbian left-back Aleksandar Kolarov into a seemingly top-class defender (those who witnessed his shambolic performance in the 2-1 win over City at the Boleyn, last season, will be as bemused as City punters are by this)

This has also given the City rearguard a much-more solid look, and even Eliaquim Mangala looks to have settled as a result.

Record £54m signing Kevin de Bruyne is in line to make his first start for Manuel Pellegrini’s team and he will clearly offer a world-class threat on the right-hand side, rather than the wastefulness of Jesus Navas.

So why are City fans churning up over the Hammers? In boxing, they say styles make fights, and  this is a classic match-up between the slugger and a counter-puncher.

If City connect, then it’s lights out for most teams they come up against.

However, they do revel in playing a high defensive line and there is a real healthy respect for how Bilic’s team opened up Arsenal on the opening day of the campaign.

This is the barometer City have been using in their preparations, rather than your win at Anfield over Liverpool, a team which is still a combination of odds and ends.

City fans see a Hammers team which has serious pace on the counter. More importantly, they see one which is now allied with a decent technical capacity.

As we have seen to our cost in the Champions League, City have still not found the antidote to that combination, where teams can get away a quick pass through the middle and have a run at our defence.

Yaya Toure is certainly applying himself much more this season but he has lost a yard and is operating a little deeper as a result.

Along with the back-to-his-best, Fernandinho, they both ran themselves into the ground in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to Juventus.

There have to be serious question marks as to whether they will have recovered sufficiently in time to give the City engine room the legs it needs to operate at maximum.

Skipper Vincent Kompany felt a niggle in his calf against Juve and it won’t be a surprise if Argentinian centre back Nicolas Otamendi make his Premier League debut.

That should be another area of encouragement for West Ham, with Otamendi still new to it all.

City also come into this game knowing a win could see them pull further clear of Chelsea and Arsenal, who play each other earlier in the day.

That will bring its own pressure gauge and the longer this clash goes without a City opener, the better the Irons’ chances will increase.

Sergio Aguero is expected to return (phew) but he remains in slight discomfort following his attempted knee-capping by Crystal Palace defender Scott Dann last weekend.

City are a different animal this season, the attitude and application is spot-on. We have Aguero, Silva, Yaya, de Bruyne, and Sterling.

But your boys are a different animal, also. On paper, and with home advantage, City win this game perhaps seven games out of ten?

The combination of midweek Champions League football, however, coupled with our desire to always go forward, should make it a fascinating match-up.

If Payet can regularly drag you guys a further 15 yards upfield, and get his fair share of support and cheap free-kicks, then you will be in business.

Should City score in the opening ten minutes, then I think we will have enough in our locker to maybe play you at your own game and counter-attack at pace.

My prediction would be a very tough 3-1 win, with City only putting the game to bed very late in the day.

Good luck for the rest of the season, I genuinely think you can get a top-seven finish and that would be a fitting parting gift for the old stadium.