Marquee Matchup As City Come Down to East London

The fixture list from Hell continues for West Ham with Manchester City up next. This critical player matchup could define the outcome for both sides.

On the back of an inspirational and unrelenting effort from West Ham against Tottenham in their 3-3 draw, the Hammers are poised to continue their strong form against some of the Premier League’s elite teams. Manchester City will look to rebuke the Irons and push their five-game unbeaten streak one more match forward.

Not quite the unmovable object versus the unstoppable force, but instead for this match anyway, it could be the superstar speedster versus the physical veteran newcomer that ends up deciding the winner between these two clubs.

For Manchester City, this means Raheem Sterling, their ever-fit and always sprinting left-winger tearing up his flank for a full 90 minutes. In seven matches across Premier League, EFL Cup, and Champions League this season Sterling has four goals and three assists.

His greatest asset is his pure speed and his ability to pull play out wide to utilize his skillset will be a tough task for Vladimir Coufal to handle. That being said, Coufal has had Heung-min Son and Harvey Barnes to baptize him into the Premier League, so Raheem Sterling is just another notch on his belt.

Barnes was completely shut down by Coufal and the West Ham defence, but Son had massive success early against the Hammers. Initially, his speed exposed Fabian Balbuena on the opening goal as Coufal was committed forward too far, leaving him unable to help his centre-back out at all. But, Harry Kane’s second goal saw Coufal ball chasing, leaving Son opened out wide to freely whip the headed cross into the goal.

Coufal needs to be more disciplined when defending, plain and simple. He is a disciplined player which is why Son’s offensive output was a bit shocking, but Coufal likes to take responsibility and over commits when trying to break up opposition play. This contributed to him being pulled out of position and opened the gaps to attack.

Should Coufal revert back to his level play, Sterling will be a much more manageable player to come up against. Don’t get it wrong, he’ll still be a beast as per usual, but the physicality and effort level that Coufal brings should inhibit Sterling from having an enjoyable day on the pitch. The winner of this matchup could dictate the game script.