West Ham v Man City preview

Manchester City will be keen to maintain their winning streak when they visit West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

The defending champions travel to East London seeking their fifth league success on the bounce, having narrowly beaten Swansea at home last weekend. That result left Roberto Mancini's men third in the table and level on points with second-placed local rivals Manchester United, while leaders Chelsea are a point in front ahead of the weekend's action. Depending on results around them, City could climb further up the standings if they claim three points at Upton Park. For West Ham the encounter marks the start of a run of testing fixtures, with games against Newcastle, Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool looming in the coming weeks. Sam Allardyce's promoted side have made a bright start to the season to sit ninth in the standings, but were beaten at Wigan last weekend after a lacklustre display. They could face a tough encounter against City, who have won seven and lost just one of their last 10 Premier League meetings with the Hammers.Allardyce has been unable to welcome back any of his injured West Ham players ahead of the clash. The champions visit Upton Park knowing the Hammers will be missing Guy Demel (hernia) and Matthew Taylor (calf), with both hoping to be back in contention within two weeks. Ricardo Vaz Te (shoulder) and Jack Collison (knee) are West Ham's long-term absentees.Manchester City welcome back Javi Garcia, Pablo Zabaleta and James Milner for the trip to West Ham but Micah Richards has been added to the injury list. Midfielder Garcia (thigh) and full-back Zabaleta (hamstring) have recovered from injuries while Milner returns after serving a one-match suspension against Swansea last weekend. However, midfielders David Silva and Jack Rodwell (both hamstring) and defender Maicon (foot) are still out while Richards suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury against Swansea, although Mancini is hoping he will be fit again within a month.