West Ham v Man City: Goal-laden pattern can provide profit

WILLIE DUNCAN'S (@Willie_Duncan) enjoyed a superb fortnight and next on his hit-list is Wednesday night's Premier League clash from the London Stadium.

West Ham v Manchester City | Wednesday 19:45 | BT Sport 1

Having won each of his first 10 matches in charge of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola could have been forgiven for thinking that he was well on course to further enhancing his remarkable reputation as one of the world's best football managers.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, however, has not had things entirely his own way since that sensational start and, indeed, City go into Wednesday's match with West Ham outside of the top four in the table.

City's form has been patchy of late, but the visitors will have happy memories of their last trip to London Stadium – the men from Manchester turned on the style in the FA Cup, humiliating the Hammers by securing a 5-0 win in the third round in east London.

City cruised past Crystal Palace in the fourth round on Saturday afternoon, claiming a comfortable 3-0 win against the Eagles and Guardiola will be hopeful that his side can heap yet more misery upon the Hammers here.

Slaven Bilic's side have not had the kind of season that they would have hoped for but, despite Dimitri Payet's departure, things are beginning to look up for the team that finished in the top seven in the standings last season.

West Ham have won back-to-back Premier League matches since crashing out of the Cup in January, scoring six goals in the process, while the Hammers have kept a clean sheet in each of their five league victories at London Stadium this term.

Stopping City, though, will be no easy feat and the value lies in backing a goal-laden game when these two teams battle for Premier League points on Wednesday night; there have been more than two goals scored in all but one of the last six meetings between the clubs.

The 8/13 quotes for that trend to continue are far too skinny to be a viable selection for punters aiming to pile up profit, though, so following another pattern could prove to be a wise strategy ahead of this match.

All but one of City's last 16 wins has seen more than two goals scored and the 5/4 (BetStars) quote on offer for Guardiola's side to take maximum points from a match with more than two goals is the recommended play for punters ahead of this crucial clash.