Hammers Fail To Conquer City
It doesn’t really matter how long Manchester City have to prepare for games, as they often come out on the right side of a result and they did so again on Saturday afternoon, as West Ham United were beaten 3-0 at The Etihad Stadium.
Nuno Espírito Santo made three changes to the side that narrowly lost to Aston Villa six days earlier as he restored Max Kilman to the starting line up in place of Konstantinos Mavropanos. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf are at the Africa Cup of Nations, meaning youngster Oliver Scarles and Kyle Walker-Peters came in to replace them, while captain Jarrod Bowen retained his place in the side on his 29th birthday.
Fellow Development Squad players Ezra Mayers and Mohamadou Kanté were both included in the matchday squad.
West Ham got off to the best possible start against Unai Emery’s side when they went in front after just twenty nine seconds through Mateus Fernandes. Josep Guardiola’s men made a fast start here although they had to wait a little longer than the Stratford faithful did last weekend but, that being said, they were ahead in the opening five minutes with Erling Haaland getting his customary goal against the Hammers. His initial shot was kept out by visiting goalkeeper Alphonse Areola but unfortunately, it fell back into the path of the Norwegian striker who put his side in front.
The Citizens have never lost a top-flight encounter to the Irons during Guardiola’s time in charge and it didn’t look like the home side were going to let their opponents defy the odds here as they were relentless and only blocks from Kilman and Soungoutou Magassa prevented them from making the scoreline look worse.
The East Londoners were thankful to their French stopper for keeping Tijjani Reijnders out but he could do nothing when the Dutchman tried his luck just minutes later when the Citizens stretched their advantage. Haaland turned provider, as he ran past Kilman to set up former AZ Alkmaar player and the visitors had a mountain to climb.
There is no doubt that since Espírito Santo arrived at the club, there has been a noticeable improvement in performances however, aspects of the first-half showing here obviously weren’t up to the standards that the new Head-Coach had set. However, whatever was said in the dressing room during the break brought about a fresh approach to the second forty five minutes.
Although the team was the same that left the pitch when they were sent back out before referee Paul Tierney restarted the action, the travelling support saw their team create more chances.
Home goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma could only parry Cryesencio Summerville’s effort out to Freddie Potts but even then, the Italian still managed to stop the ball from beating him. The move was unfortunately ended from a West Ham point of view when Fernandes shot over the bar.
Espírito Santo’s side kept going and in the fifty fourth minute. Bowen linked up with Scarles but unfortunately, he didn’t finish the chance off, as he only found the side-netting.
Bowen was involved again just two minutes later when he latched onto a pass from Lucas Paquetá and beat Nico O’Reilly to the ball. Although he fired across City’s stopper, his effort didn’t beat the summer acquisition, as it ended up wide of the far post.
The afternoon went from bad to worse for the visitors as they suffered a further blow when Scarles picked up another injury, having just returned from a broken collarbone. This meant an early end to his game and just after the hour mark fellow youngster Mayers took his place.
Guardiola’s side added a third goal just six minutes later. The Spaniard introduced Savinho to take the place of Rayan Cherki as part of a double change after sixty seven minutes. The Brazilian winger played in Haaland, who helped himself to a brace when the ball fell invitingly for him after deflecting off Jean-Clair Todibo.
With over ten minutes of normal time to play, the Irons’ chief sent on Tomáš Souček, Callum Wilson, Guido Rodríguez and Mavropanos for Paquetá, Potts, Summerville and Fernandes.
The new faces failed to make the desired impact but the visitors were still fashioning opportunities until Tierney blew the final whistle, with the ball hitting Donnarumma, as Summerville had another go, while he also did well when he saved Paquetá’s curling free-kick. Wilson wasted an opportunity too, when he headed a cross from Mayers over the bar.
There was action at the other end of the pitch too as Phil Foden and Savinho tested Areola but fortunately, the Frenchman wasn’t troubled by the latest two efforts he had to face.
A further two opportunities went the way of the Citizens but Espírito Santo’s men were just glad to have a reprieve, as neither Joško Gvardiol, or Haaland were able to reap the benefits.
Just like in the first week of the month, the East Londoners face a busy end to the year with two games in the space of three days. On the plus side for West Ham though, they are both at home, starting with the visit of Fulham on Saturday afternoon.