City name unchanged line-up for West Ham clash | OneFootball

City have named an unchanged side for Saturday’s Premier League home clash with West Ham United.

For our first match of 2025, manager Pep Guardiola retains the starting eleven that helped secure a 2-0 win away at Leicester last Sunday.

Kevin De Bruyne is again named as skipper for what will be his 400th career appearance for the Club.

Matheus Nunes makes a return to the matchday squad and is named on the bench.

Ederson, Ruben Dias and John Stones don't feature this afternoon as they continue on their individual recovery from recent injuries.

Meanwhile, long-term absentees Rodri and Oscar Bobb also remain unavailable for selection.

Teams

CITY XI: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol, Kovacic, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Savinho, Foden, Haaland

Subs: Carson, Walker, Grealish, Doku, Gundogan, Nunes, Simpson-Pusey, O'Reilly, McAtee

WEST HAM XI: To follow

Subs:

Formation/Tactics

Stefan Ortega Moreno again lines up between the sticks behind a back four of Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol.

Mateo Kovacic is again set to be holding midfielder with De Bruyne and Phil Foden also expected to operate in the engine room.

Erling Haaland will be City’s central attacking focal point with Savinho and Bernardo Silva likely to provide the width going forward.

As always though such is City’s tactical and positional flexibility those positions could well be subject to change!

WATCH: The onus is on me – Pep

400 up

Today’s game promises to be an extra special occasion for Kevin De Bruyne as it will see the brilliant Belgian chalk up his 400th career appearance for City.

Since signing from Wolfsburg back in 2015, the midfielder has gone on to cement himself as one of the greatest players ever to represent City.

Today will see the Belgian become the 15th man to reach that figure in the Club’s long and illustrious history in what his 10th campaign at the Etihad.

With 16 major trophies as a City player, the 33-year-old is one of the most decorated men in our history – and one of the finest players to adorn the Premier League.

Special K indeed!

Hammers omen

If we are in need of any encouraging omens, City will kick off this afternoon on the back of what is a formidable home record against the Hammers.

We have won 14 of our last 15 Premier League home games against the Londoners.

The sole setback in that impressive sequence came back in September 2015 when we slipped to a 2-1 loss.

Since then, we have won eight games in a row here at home under the leadership of Pep Guardiola.

The latest of those victories came in May of this year when we overcame the Hammers 3-1 – a win that secured us a historic fourth successive Premier League title.

Hopefully that augurs well for this afternoon’s encounter!

First footing

It’s our first game of the 2025 and City have accumulated a fine record in terms of starting the new calendar year.

City have won our first league game in 17 of the last 18 calendar years, including each of the last 12 in a row since a 1-0 loss at Sunderland on New Year’s Day 2012.

That’s a remarkable statistic – and again gives cause for optimism ahead of kick-off.

WATCH: Watch: Memorable moments against West Ham

Stats and facts

● West Ham are winless in their last 18 Premier League games against City, since a 2-1 away win in September 2015. Against no side have the Hammers had a longer winless run in their league history (also 18 vs Liverpool between 1983 and 1994).

● West Ham have conceded at least once in each of their last 24 Premier League games against City – only against Sunderland have they had a longer run without a clean sheet in their league history (25 between 1923 and 1968), a run they ended with an 8-0 win with Geoff Hurst scoring six goals.

● West Ham haven’t lost their opening league game in any of the last seven calendar years (W4 D3), since a 2-0 loss to Manchester United in 2017. This is the first time they’re facing the reigning champions in their first league game of the year since 2006, and a 3-1 defeat to Chelsea.

● City have failed to win either of our last two Premier League home games, despite opening the scoring both times (1-2 v Manchester United, 1-1 v Everton). We've not failed to win three consecutive home league games despite scoring first each time since December/January in 2003-04.

● In 2024, West Ham conceded more goals than any other Premier League side (79), finishing the year with a 5-0 home defeat against Liverpool.

● City have won all eight of our Premier League home games against West Ham under Pep Guardiola – only Arsène Wenger has a better 100% home win rate against an opponent in the competition (11/11 vs Leicester, 10/10 vs Stoke).

● City’s Erling Haaland has scored seven goals in just five Premier League games against West Ham, though only one of these has come at the Etihad Stadium.