West Ham United v Manchester City: live - Telegraph.co.uk

21 min City still mostly in charge, but their decision making leaves substantial amounts to be desired at the moment. Yaya Toure decides he fancies a big bold shot at goal from 30 yards. He is wrong to fancy this. He should no better. It's wide.

18 min Matt Jarvis picks out Benayoun with an excellent ball towards the far post from his favoured left flank. Gorgeous, deft, side-footed volley from Benayoun. Clips the top of the bar and goes over. Nice football from West Ham.

15 min The pace has slowed and that will suit City. They're dictating the tempo and the game at the moment, but that's a hurried pass forward for Dzeko to chase, and it's out for a West Ham goal kick.

13 min Wonderful from Diame, who drops a devastating shoulder to take Toure (Y) out of the game and makes space for a shot as he bounds into the box from the left. Hit hard and centrally, but just over.

12 min Balotelli hammers a free kick towards goal from optimistirange. Into the wall and eventually out for a West Ham throw.

10 min Some sleek and mildly sexy passing from City, which presents Nasri with a chance to shoot just shy of the box. Hit well, Jaaskelainen parries straight to Dzeko. He's offside, and his header was off target anyway.

8 min Mark Noble has done himself a leg-based mischeif as he attempted to cut out a pass. Not looking too good for him as he hobbles to his feet. Jim White is at Upton Park for us tonight:

6 min Replays suggest Nolan was a little unfortunate to have that goal chalked off. It was certainly a tight call. Chris Waddle reckons he was onside. I'll defer to him. He's played more football than me, and had more singles in the UK chart.

4 min Pacy start to the game, with both sides showing willing to have a go at each other. Nolan has the ball in the net after an excellent finish from a deep free kick. He's offside.

1 min We are off. City are wearing a fetching black and dark grey striped number. Carlos Tevez makes the West Ham crossed-wrist gesture at the the crowd. I have only ever seen Carlos Tevez doing that, never West Ham supporters...

17.28 You'll be pleased to learn that Abdul Razak has taken the spare spot on the City bench after James Milner's warm-up injury. We are moments away.

17.25 Time for this evening's first pertinent statistical tweet from our friends at Opta:

17.21 Fact fans: listen to me while I tell you this. If City win by four goals or more today they will go top.

17.15 Here's your friend and mine Andy Holgate:

I can imagine Mancini's holidays would be fine wine, good food and a bit of culture. Getting there he would take his time, exploring different routes before finally arriving. Whereas Big Sam would be greased up in Factor 2 Tropical Oil on a beach while sporting white speedos and drinking pina coladas. He'd fly direct, probably go long haul Arsene Wegner goes on the sort of holiday where you think there will be loads to see and do, but when you ask him he'd say "I didn't see anything".

17.11 It now looks like James Milner has injured himself in the warm-up. Gareth Barry will take his place in City's starting line-up.

17.10 Joleon Lescott has a back problem, says Roberto Mancini, which explains his absence from today's line up. Suggestion is Kolo Toure is going to play right back. Mancini is being more cagey about that. "He plays," Mancini says. Thanks. For. That.

17.03 I didn't catch an explanation for who this chap is:

He's currently being interviewed on ESPN. Help?

16.50 Today's retro highlights are brought to you by the year 1991, and feature an enjoyably unorthodox penalty:

16.43 Here are the teams:

West Ham: Jaaskelainein, O'Brien, McCartney, Collins, Reid, Noble, Nolan, Diame, Jarvis, Benayoun, Carroll.
Subs: Spiegel, Chambers, Spence, O'Neil, Hall, Maiga, Cole

Manchester City: Hart, Kolo Toure, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy, Yaya Toure, Nasri, Milner, Tevez, Dzeko and Balotelli.
Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Barry, Sinclair, Garcia, Aguero

Referee: Howard Webb

16.30 Afternoon liveblog fans.

Some games fill you with hope of goals, glory and excitement.

Some have the potential to provide some niche point of interest to focus on: an intriguing tactical battle; a probable fight; Adel Taarabt.

Other games fill you with dread, and I'm afraid that's what this fixture is doing for me.

City have huffed and puffed to no great effect so far this season. I realise they're unbeaten, but it's been done in that vaguely unconvincing way.

I reckon they're sleepwalking towards consecutive titles and will pick up after Christmas, but it's not a whole lot of fun watching them grind out wins and draws against teams they would be beating 31-2 if matches were decided on financial outlay.

West Ham have been periodically excellent and it's very difficult to see them going down this season but to say they, like City, aren't a whole lot of fun to watch at the moment is kind to West Ham and harsh on the concept of fun.

Manchester United v Arsenal was supposed to be today's main event. It was dire. Perhaps something wonderful will happen here?

Stay tuned to find out if it does.

Team news to follow, here's a wonderful preview:

Saturday, November 3

West Ham United v Manchester City
Upton Park
Kick-off: 17.30 GMT.
TV: Live ESPN, Highlights BBC ONE Match of the Day.

West Ham (possible, 4-4-1-1): Jaaskelainen; Tomkins, Collins, Reid, McCartney; Benayoun, Noble, Diame, Jarvis; Nolan; Carroll.
Out: Collison (knee), Demel (hernia), Taylor (calf), Vaz Te (shoulder).

Manchester City (possible, 4-4-2): Hart; Zabaleta, Nastasic, Kompany, Clichy; Javi Garcia, Y Touré, Barry, Nasri; Dzeko, Agüero.
Out: Richards (knee), Silva, Rodwell (both hamstring).

Referee: Howard Webb. Matches 5, R1 Y23.

Team News
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has been unable to welcome back any of his injured players ahead of his side's Barclays Premier League match against Man City.

The champions visit Upton Park knowing the Hammers will be missing Guy Demel and Matthew Taylor, with both hoping to be back in contention within two weeks.

Ricardo Vaz Te and Jack Collison are West Ham's long-term absentees.

Meanwhile, Manchester City welcome back Javi Garcia, Pablo Zabaleta and James Milner but Micah Richards has been added to the injury list.

Midfielder Garcia (thigh) and fullback 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.

Match Notes
With Ricard Vaz Te still sidelined, Sam Allardyce reckons Andy Carroll will be the key to defeating the champions.

The centre of City's defence has been their main weakness this season, and the robust Geordie represents their most significant domestic challenge so far.

The visitors do, however, have some forward muscle of their own, with Eden Dzeko expected to partner Sergio Agüero up front.

Betting: Home 19-5, Away 7-10, Draw 14-5.

Stat of the game: City have 18 goals from nine Premier League games. At this stage last season they had 33.

Jim White's prediction: West Ham United 1 Manchester City 2.