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Dan Coker's Match Preview

Match Preview: Man City v West Ham

Blast from the past

4th November 1961 – Elvis Presley was number one with ‘Little Sister/His Latest Flame’ as West Ham United emerged victorious from a First Division encounter against Manchester City with an entertaining 5-3 win.

Peter Dobing scored a hat-trick for City but still ended up on the losing side at Maine Road in front of 18,839. Doubles from John Dick and Alan Sealey (pictured) were added to a strike by Malcolm Musgrove to ensure maximum points went back with the Hammers to East London. Dick would go on to be runner-up in the Hammer of the Year voting later that season, with goalkeeper and fellow Scot Lawrie Leslie claiming the main award.

The Hammers went on to finish in 8th place in 1961/62 while City ended up 12th in Division One. Ipswich won the league title and Tottenham won the FA Cup.

Manchester City: Bert Trautmann, Bobby Kennedy, Dave Ewing, Barrie Betts, Cliff Sear, Alan Oakes, Colin Barlow, Joe Hayes, Gerry Baker, Peter Dobing, Dave Wagstaffe.

West Ham United: Lawrie Leslie, John Bond, Bobby Moore, Ken Brown, Joe Kirkup, Alan Sealey, Phil Woosnam, Geoff Hurst, John Dick, Malcolm Musgrove, Ian Crawford.

Club Connections

A large group of players have turned out for West Ham United and Manchester City. Divided by playing position, they include:

Goalkeepers – David James, Perry Suckling.

Defenders – Stuart Pearce, Tal Ben Haim, Tyrone Mears.

Midfielders – Marc-Vivien Foe, Kevin Horlock, Mark Ward, Eyal Berkovic, Steve Lomas, Frank Lampard Junior, Michael Hughes, Ian Bishop, Trevor Sinclair.

Strikers – Carlos Tevez, Craig Bellamy, Phil Woosnam, Justin Fashanu, Trevor Morley, Paulo Wanchope, Clive Allen, David Cross, George Webb.

Malcolm Allison and John Bond join Stuart Pearce as West Ham players who have gone on to manage City.

Today’s focus though falls on a player who played an ill-fated eighteen matches in all competitions for West Ham in 2011, having joined on loan from Man City – Wayne Bridge.

Bridge started his career at Southampton before joining Chelsea in a deal worth just over £7m in 2003. The left-back moved on to Manchester City in the January transfer window of 2009 for a reported fee of £10m. He is perhaps most remembered for an episode which culminated in his much-publicised refusal of a handshake from John Terry, which was interlinked with Bridge’s self-imposed termination of his England career – he won 36 caps for his country, scoring one goal. Bridge’s first-team opportunities at City faded with the arrival of Aleksandar Kolarov and, later, Gael Clichy. He made 58 appearances for the club, without scoring.

Bridge was offered an escape route in January 2011 by the relegation-haunted Hammers. He played in both the semi-final of the League Cup and the quarter-final of the FA Cup during his brief West Ham career but these Cup successes were not supplemented by points in the Premier League and the club was relegated as the division’s bottom side. Bridge would return to his parent club but was shipped out on loan again, this time to Sunderland.

Bridge would later have to drop a division for regular football, joining Brighton for a successful 2012/13 campaign. He turned down the chance of an extension to his time with the Seagulls, opting instead to join newly-relegated Reading. The ex-England left-back announced his retirement from the game in May 2014.

Referee

The referee on Sunday will be Andre Marriner; he was the man in the middle for our 0-0 home draw with Stoke last season and, more recently, our 1-0 win over Tottenham at Upton Park in March. Since we achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 the Birmingham-based official has refereed ten of our league matches, officiating in two wins for the Hammers, three draws and five defeats.

Possible line-ups

Manchester City are expected to be without the injured Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane as they seek to protect their 100% record. Kelechi Iheanacho should be fit enough to claim a place on the bench. Sergio Aguero has scored six goals in his last seven league appearances against West Ham.

West Ham United have seen Havard Nordtveit join Aaron Cresswell, Sofiane Feghouli, Andre Ayew, Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll on the injury list. Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini are back in training and could claim a place on the bench.

Possible Manchester City XI: Caballero; Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva; Sterling, Aguero, Nolito.

Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Byram, Collins, Reid, Masuaku; Kouyate, Noble, Obiang; Antonio, Valencia, Tore.

Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!

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