City return to the top after passing West Ham test

Manchester City returned to the top of the Premier League table with a routine win over West Ham United.

Action: The Hammers were without some key players due to an overnight illness including Declan Rice and Nayef Aguerd. But they still managed to put up a strong resistance to City’s attack.

Indeed, the game seemed to be played at the perfect tempo for the visitors in the first 45 minutes with City looking slow and West Ham happily staying compact in the middle. There was one flash of inspiration though when Erling Haaland and Rodri linked up on the edge of the area with the Spanish midfielder’s shot bouncing off the inside post and then agonisingly across the face of goal.

The Citizens were much improved in the second period though and four minutes after the restart they took the lead.

West Ham have conceded the fewest goals from set-pieces this season – that’s still true but they conceded one more. A free-kick from the edge of the area was whipped in by Riyad Mahrez with Nathan Aké on hand to finish.

Eventually, David Moyes had to make a chance for West Ham to try and get back into the game. It didn’t quite work out though as not long after Danny Ings took Michail Antonio’s place on the pitch he gave the ball away in midfield. 

From there, Jack Grealish was able to play Erling Haaland in behind the defence. As expected, the Norwegian made no mistakes, scooping the ball over Lukasz Fabianski for his record 35th Premier League goal of the season.

That goal killed the game off but City still had time to break another record. With 85 minutes gone a City corner was cleared only as Phil Foden on the edge of the box. The England man sent in a shot that deflected off Emerson Palmieri and into the back of the net. It wasn’t the prettiest goal but it was City’s 1,000th under Pep Guardiola.

Big Picture: That win continues City’s monstrous momentum and puts them back on the top of the table with Sam Allardyce’s Leeds United on the horizon. It’s hard to see the new-manager bounce having an effect against this team though.

West Ham can be proud of their performance though, especially in the first half where they limited City to very little despite missing some key players. More points are needed for David Moyes’ team to avoid slipping back into the relegation dogfight with Manchester United heading to London for the Hammers’ next game on Sunday.

xG: Manchester City (2.85) 3-0 (0.58) West Ham United

Our record breaker! 🌟

🔵 3-0 ⚒️ #ManCity pic.twitter.com/ssydOvkrQC

— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 3, 2023