DOUBLE Pep loses perfect
MORE AG-ONY: Sergio Aguero goes off injured in only his third game back
MANCHESTER CITY spent the afternoon banging their heads against a claret and blue wall as in-form West Ham picked up their first point against them since 2016. And to add to City boss Pep Guardiola’s frustrations, he could now face another spell without striker Sergio Aguero, who left the game at half-time with an injury.
“It was a muscle, a hamstring, I think,” said Guardiola, who had never dropped points against West Ham before yesterday. Aguero had only returned for last weekend’s victory over Arsenal and scored from the spot in the Champions League in midweek.
But the Argentine was taken off and replaced by Phil Foden, whose goal five minutes after coming on cancelled out Michail Antonio’s magnificent opener.
It was a tough afternoon for City who enjoyed 70 per cent of possession.
But West Ham, who had conceded 25 goals against Guardiola’s men in eight league games prior to this one, were defensively superb and thoroughly deserved their point.
There were a couple of hairy moments for them late on when Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez went through.
But both took heavy touches and Lukasz Fabianski and his defenders were eventually able to deal with the danger.
Guardiola added: “We started really well but we conceded a goal from the first attack they had and then we struggled in the last five or 10 minutes of the first half.
“In the second half we were better and we scored early.
“We had the chances at the end, three or four chances in front of Fabianski.
“I would prefer to have the results but also we have to analyse the situation that we are in.
“We struggle with many injuries, with a lack of preparation and a lack of recovery time between the games.
“We have had some incredibly tough games so far but the players are giving everything on the pitch.
“They fought even though they are tired at the end so they must recover and think about the next game in the Champions League.
“The reality is we are struggling with one or two weeks without preparation. “We have four or five guys with covid and we need time – three is not enough regeneration for the players.”
West Ham took the lead against the run of play when Antonio scored a delightful overhead kick from Vladimir Coufal’s cross.
But Foden levelled matters soon after his arrival with a neat finish on the turn, the one and only time West Ham’s defence switched off.
For much of the game, seeing City struggle to find a way through was like watching someone trying to get into a can with a broken ring pull.
And while West Ham boss David Moyes knows that his men can play much better, he was happy with a point. He said: “We played much better versus Spurs but did other things very well, we were hard to beat, hard to score against.
“Against City, with what they are capable of, it was good for us. We’ve done some good things, we’ve done well.
“The second half was very difficult but it was
brilliant character from the players and they showed it in a different way.”
This draw made it four games unbeaten in the league for West Ham – an encouraging return when you consider that each of those fixtures was against a team which finished in the top six last season.
There were impressive performances all round from the home side but skipper Declan Rice was immense in the defensive midfield role and the back three of Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell and Fabian Balbuena were impressive as well.
Antonio, as he has been for most of the early season, was excellent too but he limped off in the second half.
He will be scanned today to assess whether he has a hamstring problem or was just suffering from cramp given the amount of running he got through in a determined display.
Fabianski 6; Balbuena 8, Ogbonna 8, Cresswell 8, Coufal
7; Soucek 7, Rice 8, Fornals 7, Masuaku 7; Bowen 7 (Haller (69th) 6), Antonio 8 (Yarmolenko (52nd) 6)
Ederson 6; Walker 7 (Zinchenko 78th), Dias 7, Garcia
7, Cancelo 7; Silva 6 (De Bruyne (68th) 6), Rodrigo 7, Gundogan 7; Mahrez 6, Aguero 5 (Foden (46th) 7), Sterling 6
Declan Rice
A Taylor
HAM STRUNG: It’s painful for Pep Guardiola as City fail to find a winner