West Ham United faced Manchester City in their first match of 2025.
West Ham United faced Manchester City in their first match of 2025.

Cascarino drops West Ham United 'havoc' verdict ahead of game v Manchester City

Zak Anderton

Zak is a professional football writer from the UK. He is a Sports Journalism graduate from Leeds Trinity University and has previously worked on websites such as TEAMtalk and Planet Sport. He started working at Breaking Media in June 2024 and covers a range of their club websites.

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Tony Cascarino believes Manchester City could cause West Ham United some "havoc" when they get on the break in their Premier League game on Saturday.

The Hammers are set to take on the reigning Premier League champions at 3pm on 4 January and will no doubt be hoping to capitalise on their opponents' poor form over the past few months.

However, Cascarino doesn't believe that will be the case due to the lack of athleticism their midfield and defensive line have shown this term.

"[West Ham] just look like, midfield and defensively, if you break at West Ham, you are going to cause some havoc," Cascarino said live on talkSPORT (4 January, 07:14am).

Julen Lopetegui and West Ham need to surprise Manchester City

Although the Hammers won't be as scared of playing City as they would have been when facing them last season, they still have a lot of quality within their ranks that West Ham need to overcome.

Pep Guardiola's men have underperformed massively this season due to a multitude of reasons, but much like Julen Lopetegui's men, one of the main ones is the injuries that have occurred.

At the moment, United aren't involved in the Premier League relegation battle, but unless the Spaniard can string a consistent set of results together and earn a few three points here and there, it feels like they'll just be fighting an uphill battle all season.

West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui
Hammers manager Julen Lopetegui [Credit: Imago]

In addition, the pressure upon the former Wolves boss' head is massive. Unless some better results start occurring, it's hard to see how David Sullivan could continue backing him for much longer.

Only time will tell what the future holds, but if Lopetegui can lead his men to a victory on Saturday, it'll certainly be a step in the right direction.

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