Can West Ham’s nascent recovery continue when they host Manchester City at 7.45pm on BT Sport 1?

With the mini-Dimitri Payet saga over, the Frenchman returning to Marseilles with two fingers flicked at his former London home, West Ham will be aiming for a statement of intent on Wednesday. Despite the Payet-problems the Hammers have been on the up-and-up in the last fortnight or so; putting 3 goals past both Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough, and nabbing 6 points in the process, helped bring to an end a 3 game losing streak that marred the club’s transition into the New Year.



Somewhat worryingly, however, one of those aforementioned losses came against Man City in the FA Cup. Pep Guardiola and co. inflicted a wound 5 goals wide during their 3rd round fixture, marking West Ham’s worst home defeat for half a century. Though there will be fears of a similar drubbing this time around, the Hammers are in a better position than they were at the start of January. Andy Carroll is on a fine run of form, his 3 goals in 2 games leaving him with a Super Mega PGM of 18-22; winter signing Robert Snodgrass, meanwhile, will want to make an immediate impact for his new club, and sits at a spread of 13-17.

Luckily for West Ham Man City are far from the infallible side they appeared to be in the first 2 months of the season. Even if one just focuses on 2017, City have shown a troublesome inconsistency. Just over a week after their Hammers-hammering in the FA Cup City themselves lost to 4-0 to Everton, before twice giving away the lead against Tottenham to end up with just a point. That limp league form leaves the Manchester side 13 points off of Chelsea (with a game in hand) and genuinely in danger of missing out on the Champions League next season.

Yet, as West Ham very well know, when City are firing on all cylinders they are irresistible. Sergio Aguero, who has 18 goals all competitions and could return after missing the weekend’s Cup trip to Crystal Palace, is at a whopping Super Mega PGM of 56-66, while Gabriel Jesus, yet to score for his new club, is at 41-48. And City’s formidable frontline doesn’t end there; Kelechi Iheanacho is at 35-41, Nolito is at 28-34 and Kevin De Bruyne is at 26-31.

Guardiola will be hoping to take advantage of the fact that all of the top 4 dropped points on Tuesday, with Spreadex offering a Manchester City/West Ham (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 1.05-1.25 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3.1-3.3.