Manchester City look to continue their unbeaten start to the season against West Ham United, the team who handed the Blues their first league defeat of the season last year.
City, though they have their flaws, are slowly but surely adapting to Pep Guardiola’s way of playing and come into the home game against West Ham having qualified for the Champions League group stages following a 6-0 aggregate win over Steau Bucharest in the play-off round.
In their last Premier League outing, City won 4-1 away at Stoke though it wasn’t as convincing as the scoreline would suggest.
West Ham have claimed just the one win in all competitions this season, which came last weekend against Bournemouth.
But the Hammers were hit with disappointment on Thursday when they were were knocked out of the Europa League in the play-off round by Astra Giurgiu for the second consecutive season.
Slaven Bilic’s side also have an incredible 10 players sidelined at present, including strikers Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew as well as new signing Havard Nordtveit.
City on the other hand, had 30 players in training leading up to the game so there are plenty of options for Pep Guardiola to work with.
Here is how we think City will line up.
Willy Caballero
Joe Hart looks to have played his final City game and received a wonderful reception at the Etihad on Wednesday against Steau Bucharest.
Claudio Bravo’s arrival surely signals the end for the fan favourite. The Chilean won’t get his debut on Sunday though according to Guardiola, so Willy Caballero will be back between the sticks.
Pablo Zabaleta
Bacary Sagna currently has a hamstring injury, which kept him out of the last two games. At one point this summer, Pablo Zabaleta looked surplus to requirements but he remains at the club and will start on Sunday.
John Stones
You can talk about transfer fees all day long and whether City have overpaid for John Stones but he’s hit the ground running since joining from Everton with assured displays at the back, including a Man of the Match performance away at Stoke last week.
Here’s hoping he has another solid game on Sunday.
Nicolas Otamendi
The Argentine wasn’t involved in midweek against Steau but I’d bet on him returning against West Ham at the Etihad – Otamendi made his first start for City in this fixture last term.
Aleksandar Kolarov
Pep Guardiola sees things we’ll never see and his use of Aleksandar Kolarov is evidence of that; the Serbian has been much-improved this season, particularly in his new centre-back role.
Pep is a big fan of what Kolarov can do when playing as a central defender, but I reckon he’ll move to left-back for the game against West Ham.
Fernandinho
With Ilkay Gundogan set to return after the international break, Fernandinho will once again act as the deepest midfielder in the City side – a role he has excelled at.
Kevin De Bruyne
Kevin De Bruyne has dropped into a deeper role in the first few games of the season and though he’s not been able to influence games as he would normally do, the signs are positive that De Bruyne can play the Xavi-type role for City.
He got off the mark for City last season against West Ham, a repeat of that would be nice if City can pick up the win this time.
David Silva
Sharing the playmaking responsibilities with De Bruyne will be David Silva. City’s No.21 has been fairly impressive in Guardiola’s new system when many thought he would be out the door.
Raheem Sterling
Raheem Sterling has been given a new lease of life under Pep Guardiola; he looks considerably more comfortably on the right flank, running at defenders, drawing fouls and contributing going forward.
He definitely warrants a start against West Ham, who were a top six side last season.
Nolito
The signing of Nolito is already looking like a steal at £14m. The former Celta Vigo man has already scored three goals for City and brings a different option to the team.
Sergio Aguero
Completing the line up with the best player in the Premier League, who will be looking to continue his wonderful goalscoring run at the Etihad on Sunday. He’s currently level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic on three goals.
There’s even more of a burden on City’s talisman due to Kelechi Iheanacho’s injury and the fact that Wilfried Bony doesn’t appear to part of Pep’s plans.
But if you can rely on anyone to provide the goods, it’s Sergio Aguero.