Aguero facing ban for elbow
Ham, more aggressive in the second half, were back in a game that looked out of their reach when Caballero was caught all at sea by Arthur Masuaku’s cross and Antonio headed in at the far post just before the hour.
Guardiola feels Caballero is better with his feet than Joe Hart but the England No1 would have surely dealt with such a danger.
Aguero had a frustrating time which might have provoked an uncharacteristic elbow on Reid. Nolito was later replaced by Samir Nasri and he squandered two chances.
Silva hit a post and it was left to man-of-the-match Sterling to take Silva’s pass round Adrian and roll the ball in from an acute angle.
Yesterday’s brace doubled Sterling’s goal tally in 2016 as he continues to deliver an end product to his talents.
Good news for Guardiola, and England boss Sam Allardyce, who has named him in his squad for Sunday’s World Cup qualifier. HAMMER TIME: Michail Antonio, above, rises high to head in West Ham’s solitary goal on a day when he made Sam Allardyce’s England squad WEST HAM have signed Italian striker Simone Zaza, 25, from Juventus on a season-long loan for an initial fee of £5million, which could rise to more than £20m depending on appearances. Zaza scored five Serie A goals last season and also struck Juve’s winner in their pre-season game against the Hammers. “This is the right choice for me,” said Zaza. here so I don’t know how it works. I didn’t see so I cannot comment.
“Will it be a blow? Hopefully nothing happens. If it happens, we accept and adapt. If we lose him, we lose him. We are still going to play with 11.”
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic also missed the incident but was going to substitute Reid anyway. He said: “We were preparing to make a substitution so I didn’t see that. I reacted because we wanted to make a sub and change the shape.
“I think Winston is OK. He is not injured.”
Noble said: “I didn’t see it to be honest. I didn’t know what it was about. I know he couldn’t talk in the dressing room because it seems the case he had got something in the throat.”
Out-of-favour City goalkeeper Joe Hart was again left on the bench yesterday but has been offered a potential escape route by Italian side Torino.
Raheem Sterling continued his rejuvenation this season with two goals but Guardiola claimed the England winger was better in his previous games. He said: “Raz has scored two goals and was good but the games before he was more brilliant than today.
“In the first half he scored a goal but didn’t win too many defensive duels. In the second half he was better but of course we are so pleased. He can play right, left, centre. He is so dynamic. Manchester City bought him because they believe in him.”
The injury-hit Hammers were 2-0 down at the break but Bilic praised his team’s battling second half.
He said: “We are expecting many of the injured players to come back after the international break and they will make us much better. We showed the character we showed many times last season and if you put the quality on too, we are going to be good.”