Manchester City booked their twentieth victory in a row with some difficulty on Saturday. Manager Pep Guardiola’s team was 2-1 too strong for West Ham United in-house, which had lost only one of the last eleven games in the Premier League until Saturday. The victory puts Manchester City no less than thirteen points apart from fellow city rivals Manchester United and Leicester City, although the numbers two and three have played a duel less. West Ham remains the number four in England for the time being.
Guardiola was undoubtedly somewhat concerned at half-time. Manchester City did not look good defensively as the Londoners scored just before the end of the first half and apart from the opening goal after half an hour of play, the leader could hardly pose any danger. Until the goal of Rúben Dias, Guardiola’s team did not even get one aimed shot at goal, partly due to the disciplined defense of West Ham.
However, the West Ham defense had no answer to Kevin De Bruyne’s weapon. After a lovely ball from the right, Dias headed the ball behind goalkeeper Darren Randolph: 1-0. No one gave more assists in the Premier League this season than the Belgian: eleven, as many as Harry Kane. Just before the break, West Ham came to the same level. Sergio Agüero lost the ball in his own half, after which the game quickly moved and Michail Antonio tipped a shot from Jesse Lingard into the goal mouth: 1-1.
A hard blow for Manchester City, which had not received a goal in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium since the 1-1 against West Bromwich Albion on December 15 last year: 629 minutes. Even after the break, Guardiola’s team had a lot of trouble with the stiff West Ham, which played for the defense with a defensive block and the Citizens caused many problems with that.
After 68 minutes of play, Manchester City’s patience was rewarded and the home team came back in the lead. Riyad Mahrez entered the penalty area on the right and passed the ball to John Stones, who shot the ball between three opponents in one go with the right behind Randolph: 2-1. That turned out to be the winning goal, despite some possibilities for Mahrez. Nathan Aké is still missing due to injuries from the list captain, who will play against Manchester United in eight days. The team of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will first play the top match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, while Leicester City awaits a home game with Arsenal on Sunday.