Manchester City maintained pace with Chelsea at the top of the Premier League log with a 2-1 victory over West Ham United at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon.
The game, which was threatened by snowfrost throughout the game, same scenario that saw the Burnley vs Tottenham game postponed. The atmosphere almost become very unplayable and the workmen had to clear the frost.
Pepe Guardiola made just two changes to his team that came from behind to defeat Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League, with Gabriel Jesus, who scored as a substitute on that night getting the nod to start, along with the returning Aymeric Laporte from his match ban.
David Moyes had in their Europa League game in midweek shuffled his team ahead of the weekend and reverted to the team that lost to Wolves last weekend, with the exception of Jack Bowen, who was replaced by Arthur Masuaku.
The Hammers took advantage of the frost to unsettle their hosts in the opening minutes and almost went ahead in the 6th minute, when Michail Antonio sent a ball crawling into the box. Said Benrhama looked like he was not expecting the ball and ended up scuffing his effort.
Kyle Walker tried his luck from long range, but saw his rising effort fizzled past the goal, before Laporte came close to giving the hosts the lead, when he headed a corner from Ilkay Gundogan against the framework.
West Ham were looking to take advantage of any chance they could create and Pablo Fornals played Antonio in on the right side. The striker got the better of Joao Cancelo heading towards the byline and tried to lob the on-rushing Ederson Moraes from the angle, but his effort went into the side netting.
Not long afterwards, Man City had the ball in the back of the West Ham net. Raheem Sterling had fed the ball to Riyad Mahrez on the edge of Hammers’ box, before the Algerian squeezed his effort past Lukasz Fabianski, but his goal was rightly ruled out for offside.
Just three minutes after the half hour mark, the hosts took the lead. A nice switch of play by Cancelo to the right finding Mahrez, allowing the winger cut into the box and send and low ball into the far post where Gundogan was lurking and he flicked his shot into the goal.
The home side continued to pressure on and harass their visitors’ goal despite the frost getting deeper and the conditions worsening. A pass to Rodri was blocked by what seemed like the arm of Benrhama, but the advantage was played by the referee, allowing Jesus get his shot over Fabianski and would have been two goals in two successive games for the Brazilian, but for a goal line clearance by Ben Johnson.
Moments later, the hosts hit the post for the second time. Cancelo with a lot of room pulled the trigger from range which was parried by Fabianski and the rebound was hit against the near post by Mahrez.
A rare sight of Antonio losing the ball just before the hour mark in front of the City box allowed the hosts hit on a counterattack led by Sterling. The England forward strode forward on the left side, before sliding the ball to Jesus, who gets his shot past Fabianski and again was denied by a last ditch Aaron Creswell block.
Cancelo, who seemed to have carved a niche for himself on the left side of defence, despite being a right-footed player was on another adventurous move when he played a one-two with Gundogan, before getting his shot away that was smothered by Fabianski.
West Ham continued to grow into the game, although rarely threatening the City goal. A chance presented itself to the visitors when Jack Bowen teed up Declan Rice, whose dipping effort was well saved by Ederson.
Shortly after, Man City almost wrapped things up when Sterling played in Gundogan, whose shot was easily read by Fabianski, rushing out to prevent the goal.
Then came the frenzy final minutes that produced three goals, of which just two counted, one each for either side.
West Ham had a chance to clear the ball when Manuel Lanzini won back the ball, only for Bowen to gift City back the ball. Gundogan then played Fernandinho in, who had a lot of time to pick his spot and slot past the goalkeeper and City killed off the game.
The hosts got another chance moments later when Silva chipped his effort over Fabianski, but replays showed he was well offside in the buildup, before West Ham finally struck.
Fernandinho, after being a beneficiary of slack play at the back by West Ham for his own goal, reciprocated the benefit. He chested the ball down casually allowing Lanzini nick the ball off him, before taking a touch and sending a thunderous shot into the top corner. A goal worthy of a match winner only turned out to be a consolation for Moyes’ men.
Concluding Thoughts
City showed the attitude of champions, despite the bad conditions, still held their ground to see off a stubborn West Ham, who tried to harm them.
Guardiola’s men went level on points with Chelsea at the top of the log with the win, prior to the Blues’ draw against Manchester United later on with the gap between them now narrowed down to one point.
West Ham still sit in 4th position, joint on 23 points with Arsenal in 5th, but with a better goal difference.
Moyes would need to get hold of the ship so as not to allow their fine start to the season fizzle away following their second consecutive loss in the league.
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