Manchester City v West Ham United - Live Blog

Match Preview:
It’s been quite a summer for Manchester City. Clearly, they’ve taken the Chinese proverb, “May you live in interesting times,” to heart. After steering Manchester City to a great start last season (including a season-sweep of Manchester United), Sven Goran Eriksson’s squad limped to the finish line. The protracted slump prompted speculation about Eriksson’s future, which clearly distracted the club throughout the last month of the season.
Despite support from most of his players, and almost all of Manchester City’s fans (their 9th place finish was their second best performance in the Premiership since an 8th place finish in 2004-2005), Eriksson left his club “via mutual consent” and Mark Hughes was hired as his replacement. Things looked good for Manchester City for a while. The team signed highly regarded striker, Jo, from CSKA Moscow, as well as Chelsea cast-off Tal Ben Haim. Despite the turmoil, they were able to hold onto their stars Micah Richards, Elano, Richard Dunne, and Joe Hart. They were a finalist in the Ronaldinho sweepstakes (although, to be diplomatic, let’s just say that they were his ‘final’ choice), and now look set to acquire the talented Vincent Kompany from Hamburger SV.
Looks like they’ll need all the help they can get, especially since they got spanked during the opening week by Aston Villa and lost striker Valeri Bojinov to an Achilles injury. To make matters worse, they now have to deal with the additional distraction of their owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, who is a wanted man in his native Thailand, and is seeking asylum in Great Britain. I guess it could be worse. They could be owned by the Steinbrenners.
In contrast, things couldn’t have been quieter at West Ham. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. While they weren’t in danger of relegation the way they were the previous season, West Ham may have been the definition of mediocrity during the 2007-2008 season. They finished 10th, but never really competed for a European spot. They defeated Manchester United, but lost to the likes of Bolton and Sunderland. Additionally, they went through a stretch where they conceded 12 goals in three weeks.
In the offseason, they said goodbye to Freddie Ljungberg, Richard Wright, Bobby Zamora, and John Paintsil, and, depending on what paper you read, may be ready to sell Anton Ferdinand. They acquired Valon Behrami from Lazio, and secured the services of goalkeeper Jan Lastuvka on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk. However, their biggest move may have been their decision to hold on to Dean Ashton. The talented Brit, who is a goal scoring machine when healthy, looked great during the club’s preseason tour. He also had a brace during West Ham’s opening week win against Wigan before leaving with an injury. If he can get fit again, then he should be one of the top forwards in the Premiership this season.
In any event, this match should be a good one. Both of these clubs desperately want to finish in the top half of the table this season. Time to see what these two teams are made of…
Lineups:
To be announced.