Match Report and Player Ratings: West Ham 1-3 Manchester City (Premier League)

Erling Haaland stole the spotlight in London with a stunning hat-trick as Manchester City picked up a 1-3 win against West Ham this weekend.

A typical opener, an unexpected own goal, and Haaland’s back-to-back hat-trick ruled the showing when Pep Guardiola’s team squared off against Julen Lopetegui’s stubborn side. The hosts refused to let City have an easy day at the office, leading to one of the most entertaining meetings between the two sides in recent times.

The Sky Blues faced an early threat from the hosts, who pushed the defending champions back inside their half. Mohammed Kudus on the left and Jared Bowen on the right took turns knocking on the City defence, but Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol played their part to keep the ball away.

The visiting side set up their first chance with Bernardo Silva, who found an unmarked Haaland on the far post, but the Norwegian headed it beyond the goal. The City striker soon made up for the miss despite West Ham’s relentless attacks in the first ten minutes.

A mistake from Lucas Paqueta saw the ball roll towards Silva, and the Portuguese skillfully placed it on Haaland’s path with a through ball. The Norwegian paced towards the goal and slotted the ball past Alphonse Areola to give his side an early lead. Emerson Palmieri had passed the ball to Paqueta, who took too long to decide on his next move, allowing Bernardo Silva to pounce and create the chance out of nowhere.

City came close to scoring another when Jeremy Doku found Kevin De Bruyne with plenty of space to exploit. He pulled the ball back and laid it in the path of the Belgian midfielder, whose powerful shot met a rigid right post. The visitors would soon be drawn out of their comfort with an unlucky own goal off Ruben Dias.

Bowen advanced on the right side with a calculated run and took a chance with his cross swept across the City goal. Dias stretched, hoping to block the low ball, but pushed it past Ederson instead, giving West Ham their equalizer.

The Sky Blues created a few more chances before finding their lead. Jack Grealish started a play near the opponent’s box as the ball rolled past several City attackers before Lewis found Haaland with a short pass. The latter dodged past Emerson and buried the ball inside the net with a powerful shot from distance.

Both sides fought to create more chances for the rest of the half, but City held onto their lead. West Ham repeatedly asked questions of the champions’ defense and returned with a few more in the second half. Lukasz Fabianski replaced a potentially injured Areola in the Hammers’ goal as Guardiola’s men fought to keep possession.

Kudus and Bowen combined again to orchestrate a speedy counter-attack upfield. City were fortunate not to concede a goal after the Ghanaian midfielder found space to hit a shot on target that rattled the left upright.

West Ham grew confident in the game, with Bowen leading the attack and punishing each slip-up from City defenders. Guardiola introduced Ilkay Gundogan and Matheus Nunes to replace Doku and Grealish, respectively.

Bowen would continue to trouble City, and the Sky Blues grew desperate for their third. Haaland would soon flip the script with a meticulous hat-trick for the second consecutive game.

Nunes found the ball from Gvardiol’s long pass and confidently squeezed past the West Ham defense before rolling the ball toward Haaland. The Norwegian raced towards the goal and sent the ball flying into the corner for his 70th PL goal.

A late chance in stoppage time saw West Ham revert quickly after Haaland almost registered his fourth on the other side of the pitch. Crysencio Summerville curled his shot past City defenders. However, Ederson made a brilliant save, tipping the ball onto the post to deny the opponents from closing the lead in the match’s closing moments. In the end, Haaland’s magnificence allowed the travelling side to prevail after a well-fought battle against the Hammers.

A third win for City has allowed them to remain at the top of the Premier League table with nine points. The Catalan and his team will return to action after the international break to take on Brentford in two weeks.

Here’s how we feel Man City players fared in their match against West Ham this evening:

Player ratings:

Ederson – 7
Cannot be faulted for the goal, did well with distribution even when ran almost to the halfway line to stop an attack, good saves in the second half

Rico Lewis – 7
Held his ground while defending despite a couple of nerving moments, assisted Haaland’s second goal.

Manuel Akanji – 6
Not necessarily a poor performance, but was exploited often by pacing attackers, an unnecessary yellow card in the end.

Ruben Dias – 5
Victim of his standards, perhaps, but it was a ridiculous own-goal to concede, however unlucky it may be.

Josko Gvardiol – 5
Repeatedly lost possession, was caught out of position a few times, and left space for preventable attacks, especially the ones driven by Bowen.

Mateo Kovacic – 6
Had a relatively quiet game, barring a promising through ball to Haaland, and reserved himself to holding the midfield

Bernardo Silva – 8
There was barely any part of the pitch that was untouched by the Portuguese, baffling how he holds himself back from scoring at times but more than makes up by putting up an unmatched shift.

Kevin De Bruyne – 8
Frequently challenged this game, viciously precise with his passing in the first half, but was spun around on more than one occasion in the second half.

Jeremy Doku – 7
He had a routine performance on the right wing, was promising in the attack, and did a better job finding his teammates.

Jack Grealish – 7
Helped create several chances from his position on the left, worked well with Kevin De Bruyne, and could have got himself on the scoresheet

Erling Haaland – 9 (Man of the Match)
An early miss followed by a splendid hat-trick. Logically, that’s an excellent way to debunk the argument that 70 league goals in 69 appearances can be scored by “any striker placed in this City squad.”

Substitutes:

Ilkay Gundogan – 7
Helped add balance to the midfield, characteristic through ball to Haaland.

Matheus Nunes – 7
Grabbed an assist and did well to collect passes from City clearance to set up counter-attacks.

Kyle Walker – 6
Lost the ball in the closing moments that could have led to a goal, which ultimately led to Akanji’s yellow card.