This is going to very difficult. Teams like West Ham can play rubbish one week, and brilliant the next. And we have the League semi-final days later.
This is precisely what is making any preview/predictions difficult.
West Ham are in good form in spite of losing to a buoyant Newcastle last round. They like to play football and their main creative influence has settled into the Prem quite nicely. They are without Sakho and Lanzini, which weakens them, but they are strong at home. They're also guilty of slow starts (like another team I know:D)
I reckon a strong engine room is crucial here. As Ninja Monkey has said, West Ham like to attack at home and it is likely that Fernando's recent appearances and our clean sheets is not a coincidence. So I would like to see Fernando as the anchor, with Yaya Toure and Delph as the no. 8's. Fernandinho does not need to be rushed back, so maybe 20-30 mins if he's fit enough. With this set up in the centre, we can nullify West Ham in a similar way to Everton last week, albeit with a different system.
For the front three, I'd like to see Silva, Aguero and Navas.
Silva can have his usual floating role in the half space and our Zone 14, while Delph can cover some of the left-flank defensive duties that would be needed. Navas would do his trademark touchline work, giving the 8's a bit more room to advance and play into.
Potential tone-changing substitutions if this is how we were to set up:
Sterling. I'm pretty sure everyone can now see past his need to improve his finishing and realise just how good this kid is and how well he's made the step up into a better team. His progress has been amazing. Anyway... the option to substitute one of the central 3 for Sterling could be a game changer. the shape would change to 451, with pace on both flanks aswell as David Silva unchained, creating something for West Ham to think about, aswell as keeping an important balance to our transitions.
Iheanacho - (Sorry Bony, if your fit, I just like this kid a lot) Kelechi subbed on for again, one of the engine room, would change our shape to 442, making us more direct. We can find the strikers between the lines from midfield, or have an extra livewirein the box. This change could be particularly effective they start retreating and only one of their flanks is providing a strong counter threat.
Hart
Clichy
Otamendi
Demichelis
Sagna
Fernando
Delph
Yaya
Silva
Aguero
Navas
Back to back clean sheets. Key players looking like themselves. Defending better as a unit. I'm confident. Hopefully, this is the beginning of 'the run.' Come on City!
