Manchester City have been a bit Jekyll and Hyde this season, brilliant one moment, and poor and without any ideas the next.
Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping the good side of Manchester City, who have 13 points from seven games, show up when they travel to West Ham in the English Premier League on Saturday evening, although the manager will be worried about his side's away form having picked up just one point from three games.
"Of course we are worried about that (away form). I think we deserve more points playing away the way we are playing but the reality says we have one point from nine so we need to win," Pellegrini said.
"Now we play four games in a row away so it is the best moment first to win away against West Ham then to repeat the triumph we had against (Viktoria) Plzen in the Champions League. It is very important for us to get three points more."
West Ham are known to take advantage of their physical prowess, being a Sam Allardyce team, and Pellegrini, after seeing his side concede plenty of goals away from home, wants his defence to cut out the silly mistakes.
"Maybe if we go and see the statistics of the games we played away, of course we must be worried because Villa scored three goals and Cardiff scored three goals," he added. "It is a thing we must improve, we must improve the performance of all of our defending as a team.
"What happened at Cardiff and Aston Villa was not because I did not prepare. We must arrange a lot of unnecessary mistakes, unnecessary fouls and concentration at set-pieces.
"I can't know what (Allardyce) will do but maybe he will try to play exactly the same way Aston Villa played against us, waiting with nine or 10 players defending and try to counter-attack. That is how they normally play. They are a very strong team and a very dangerous team. We are aware of that."
West Ham will be buzzing from that brilliant 3-0 win over Tottenham and will be equally confident of taking at least a point against City, with the London club in need of points having taken just eight points from seven games.
Team News: James Collins misses out for West Ham along with long-term absentees Andy Carroll and Alou Diarra.
City skipper Vincent Kompany is ruled out for another week, while Martin Demichelis will also not be risked despite the Argentine's return to training. "Vincent is working hard," Pellegrini said. "He is not ready to play but I hope next week he will be. I think Demichelis is in the shape as Kompany. I hope that next week both of them could be fit."
Key men: West Ham: Ravel Morrison has been in top form over the last couple of weeks and the former Manchester United man will be keen to pile some misery on City.
Manchester City: Yaya Toure is the man that makes City tick and the powerful midfielder will want to be at his best against a West Ham side easily capable of causing an upset.
Where to watch
The match is scheduled for a 10 p.m. (IST) start with live telecast on ESPN. You can also catch the match live online by clicking the official link HERE.
Expected lineups: West Ham: Jaaskelianen; Demel, Tomkins, Reid, Rat; Noble, Nolan; Downing, Morrison, Diame, Vaz Te.
Manchester City: Hart; Zabaleta, Lescott, Nastasic, Clichy; Toure, Fernandinho; Navas, Aguero, Nasri; Negredo.
Prediction: 2-2
