City have won both of their Premier League matches under Pep Guardiola this season, scoring six goals. The Manchester Evening News believes that going on the attack is the best way for the Blues to navigate tomorrow’s tie.
Simon Bajkowski writes: “Last season’s meeting came hot on the heels of a European game for City, with Juventus inflicting their first defeat of the year proper.
“This time it is West Ham that have been in action last, playing Astra Giurgiu a day after City took on Steaua Bucharest.
“Slaven Bilic’s team have a striker shortage - as evidenced by their interest in Wilfried Bony - and the freescoring Blues should be looking to take advantage.”
Bajkowski also draws parallels between the implications of this match and the same tie from last season, which the Hammers won 2-1.
He writes: “Last season City’s perfect start of five wins was halted abruptly when West Ham left the Etihad with three points.
“Not a lot was made of it at the time - City had 72% possession and 27 shots at goal - but in the wider narrative it became the first wobble in a campaign that very quickly became unsteady.”
Elsewhere, new Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti has praised City boss Pep Guardiola for the work he did at the German champions.
As ESPN report: “Carlo Ancelotti insists he has inherited a “fantastic” team from Pep Guardiola and believes that he has little to alter with the German champions.
“Speaking after Bayern’s 6-0 demolition of Werder Bremen to open the Bundesliga season, Ancelotti acknowledged the contribution of his predecessor Guardiola, who won league titles in each of his three seasons in charge at the Allianz Arena.
“I’ve said before the team has fantastic qualities from the Guardiola era, especially the control and ball possession,” said Ancelotti. “I do want to play more vertically but I don’t want to change much.”
That’s all for this morning. Keep checking back on mancity.com for all the build-up to tomorrow’s exciting double header in Manchester!
