Manchester City have been the in-form Premier League team over the last 2 seasons. Winning back to back titles and a domestic treble last season shows just how good Guardiola's team actually are.

Nevertheless, Manchester City have not been gifted the easiest of fixtures on paper to kick off their new campaign and will face off against West Ham away from home.

Form Guide

West Ham

West Ham finished last season in 10th place in the Premier League on 52 points. This was likely to be quite disappointing for West Ham supporters because the team genuinely played very well at times but seemed to drop points when least expected.

West Ham scored 52 times in the Premier League last season, an average of 1.37 goals per game. However, they also conceded 55 times, an average of 1.45 goals per game. This is something they'll be looking to rectify this season as a few tweaks could potentially see them qualify for a place in the Europa League. In their final 5 fixtures, West Ham won 3, drew 1, and lost 1.

Manchester City

Manchester City finished the 2018/19 Premier League season as champions on a massive 98 points, 1 point clear of 2nd placed Liverpool. Having also finished on 100 points the season before, this kind of form doesn't appear to be a blip and Guardiola will be looking for his team to maintain these standards yet again.

Manchester City scored 95 times in the Premier League last season, an average of 2.50 goals per game. The team only conceded 23 times in the same period, just an average of 0.61 goals per game. In their final 5 league games of the season, Manchester City won all 5.

Head to Head

In the previous 10 meetings between the clubs, West Ham won 1, there was 1 draw, and Manchester City won 8. Notably, Manchester City won all 8 previous games between the clubs.

Pre-Match Analysis

West Ham

West Ham supporters may be feeling a bit annoyed that they've been selected to play the champions on their opening fixture. After all, they don't have the best record against them over the last few years and Manchester City are certainly heavy favourites here.

Nevertheless, this could be the best time to play Manchester City as there is a small chance that they could be caught out with less than ideal fitness levels and cobwebs in the system from the summer break. It won't be easy, but West Ham's best chance to get something out of this game is to look to attack Manchester City whenever they can. Although it may leave them exposed at times, opting instead to sit back and defend is not a tactic that proves effective against Manchester City who will simply launch wave after wave of attack if allowed to settle.

New forward, Haller, could be one to watch here as he boasted a prolific goalscoring record last season for Frankfurt with 19 goals in all competitions. He's also somewhat of an unknown entity in the Premier League so could cause Manchester City some issues.

Manchester City

Manchester City are expected to continue with their form from the last couple of season and I see no reason to doubt that this will be the case. After all, they have the strongest squad in the Premier League and are totally dominant against most teams.

However, this isn't necessarily going to be an easy fixture as West Ham will be looking to put on a good display for their home supporters in their first fixture. West Ham certainly aren't relegation fodder so I expect them to pose a threat at some point in the match. Nevertheless, Manchester City have the players to get the job done comfortably if they can make things tick.

Sterling is probably the man to watch this season. After putting in 2 great seasons in a row, this could be the season that puts other clubs on alert if he continues to deliver.

Prediction

West Ham are the kind of team who will have a good go at Manchester City and not simply sit back to try to absorb pressure. However, I feel that Guardiola's squad has far too much strength in depth and will find a way to take all 3 points in this fixture.

Odds

• Although I feel Manchester City will win, the draw at 7.0 is interesting to me.
• Over 2.5 goals at 1.52 isn't bad but I wouldn't be looking to stake anything on it unless the odds drifted a little.