Man City vs West Ham LIVE early team news, score predictions and predicted lineups

Manchester City are back in Premier League action on Wednesday night as they take on West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium.

City have gone 18 games unbeaten in all competitions and will have to win once again against the relegation-threatened Hammers to go back to the top of the table.

After finally losing their grip on first place over the weekend, Arsenal climbed back to the summit with a confidence-boosting 3-1 win over London rivals Chelsea on Tuesday night. But their lead is just two points and the Blues still have two games in hand on their title rivals.

Pep Guardiola is set to welcome Nathan Ake back to the squad against West Ham but Kevin De Bruyne remains a doubt after missing Sunday's win over Fulham with an injury.

You can follow all the build-up, action and reaction right here LIVE.

Could it finally happen?

Guardiola hasn't really got the squad to rotate even if he wanted to but what he will hope to be able to achieve in the two league fixtures at the Etihad this week is getting players some vital rest ahead of the trip to the Bernabeu next week.

The Catalan has been using his bench more regularly of late and he would love to be in a position to make five subs against both West Ham and Leeds.

Key front-line players such as Haaland and Jack Grealish might benefit from a breather in one or both of these games. The same is definitely true of Rodri, who has played more minutes than any other City player this season. Kalvin Phillips is unlikely to be starting games but he could come on if these fixtures look won by the hour mark.

Here's the full preview.

Welcome to MEN Sport's LIVE coverage of Manchester City vs West Ham.