Manuel Pellegrini says his West Ham side will attack City today when the two sides meet at the London Stadium today.
Pellegrini, who spent three years as City manager prior to Pep Guardiola’s arrival, believes playing on the front foot is the best way to go up against us.
“There are different ways to try to play,” he said (via Football365). “The first thing is you know you must not make mistakes.
“If you make a mistake, they have players who will take advantage. But they also have had difficult games this season.
“Lyon played well against them. Wolves played a good game against them. Liverpool and Tottenham played good games against them.
“There are different ways to do it. I don’t think all those teams played in the same way.
“We are trying to continue thinking and playing as a big team. Of course, we consider who we are playing.
“But we are not going to play the game just to have a draw and not to concede too many goals. We are going to try to use the game as a good test.”
It’s all set up to be a cracker.
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The Manchester Evening News’ Dan O’Toole says Bernardo Silva’s absence should lead to a start for Phil Foden against West Ham.
Foden has continually impressed whenever given a chance this season and O’Toole says he is ready for increased game-time.
And he also says Fabian Delph should play at left-back, with Benjamin Mendy sidelined because of a knee problem.
“It’s far from ideal for Pep Guardiola to have Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva absent at the same time but it could provide an ideal opportunity - at some stage in the coming weeks, at least - to blood Phil Foden in the starting XI,” he writes.
“The 18-year-old looked razor sharp on international duty with England’s under-21s and could be the man to provide further creative spark in City’s attacking play.
“News of Benjamin Mendy‘s lengthy absence from the side will have come as a concern to City’s coaching team but they are safe in the knowledge that Fabian Delph and Oleksandr Zinchenko are able deputies. Delph should get the nod for me.”
And, finally, Aymeric Laporte, a player in fine form this season, says he wants to become the best defender in world football, and to do so he needs to match the brilliance of Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos.
Ramos is widely regarded as the finest centre-half of his generation and Laporte says he is the benchmark for all other defenders.
“Do I want to be the best defender in Europe? Of course. Any defender will tell you that – who wouldn’t want to be the best?” Laporte said (via Squawka).
“Sergio Ramos is probably the best centre-back in the world at the moment as we know we have to match his standards or better him if we are to be as good as he is.
“To get to the top, you must have an edge to your game, like Ramos does.”
That’s all for this morning’s Media Watch. But stay with us throughout the day as we bring you full coverage of City’s game at West Ham.
You can follow City’s game at West Ham live here on mancity.com via our Matchday Centre.
