Strangled in the snow
Guardiola’s ice-cold team of superstars barely give Hammers a sniff
Elsewhere, this might have become a bit nervy. elsewhere, anxiety might have enveloped the ground to the same extent as the Manchester snow. west ham were by no means out of this until the final moments, yet never really in it, either. And west ham are tricky customers.
Generally this place does not do anxiety. Manchester City only led by one until the last minute, before substitute Fernandinho sauntered on to wrap the game up unexpectedly, but they had kept the ball and then kept the ball a bit more.
They should have scored more but restricted their progressive visitors to a solitary shot — Declan rice from 30 yards — from the 28th minute until Manuel lanzini’s stunning stoppage-time consolation. And that is where another three points were won in the quest for consecutive league titles, the strangling of an opponent capable of inflicting serious damage.
sure, it is not an afternoon that will be pored over by either manager, nor will it feature prominently in any examination of this season. For City, though, it does represent an impressive dispatch of upstarts who might well crash the top four.
Once Ilkay Gundogan had opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, City’s professionalism and control of midfield took hold.
Aside from his first goal in more than a month, Gundogan again ran the game. Clever little passes to navigate through west ham’s press, intelligent movement into space. he was ably assisted by Bernardo silva, who is hitting the heights of 2019 when Pep Guardiola crowned him the country’s player of the year, while raheem sterling continues to impress.
sterling has offered a new dimension in recent weeks, more direct in his running and a constant threat. City have needed that without Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish — all absent again yesterday, with only six outfield players on Guardiola’s bench.
‘with the amount of chances we created, especially in the first half in the conditions, it’s a huge victory for us with the players’ effort and performance in general,’ the City boss said.
we might have been discussing a rout were it not for heroic defending and smart goalkeeping. Ben Johnson scampered back on to the line to block when Gabriel Jesus thought he had scored, while the Brazilian also believed he had found the net after halftime. he met a perfect sterling cross but there was not quite enough on it, allowing Aaron Cresswell to hurtle back and hook clear. Cresswell took everything, smashing his back into the post, and was forced off injured.
Cresswell might look back at City’s opener with regret, however. The left back was too narrow as Joao Cancelo — the Premier league’s most inventive passer on current form — switched play with a raking 45-yard pass to riyad Mahrez. he had too much time, flashing an effort into the six-yard box and Gundogan swept it in. It would have been rude not to.
The hammers, constantly urged by David Moyes to engage City higher up the pitch, had caused some problems early on, enough for Guardiola to barrack ruben Dias for allowing them in behind too often. Michail Antonio’s bustling runs caused significant problems on the break. Antonio clipped a shot into ederson’s side-netting when barging beyond the cautioned Aymeric laporte, then said Benrahma forced the City goalkeeper into a smart stop down to his left. The champions did not have this all their own way until closer to half-time, though Moyes suggested his flair players can contribute more. ‘I am worried (about the attack), I’ve told them,’ Moyes said. ‘we’re needing to be better in that area. we’ve had opportunities. If you want to be at the top end, you need players who can create and beat people. we haven’t done that in recent games. we won in europe in midweek but our attacking play could have been cleaner.’
The chances were up the other end. laporte headed against Fabianski’s far post from Gundogan’s corner. The one-touch sequences returned with more regularity, sterling flashing wide when shimmying in from the left, Mahrez whacking a rebound against the woodwork.
Mahrez was earlier adjudged to have strayed offside when scoring into Fabianski’s far corner, while Cancelo continued to roam from left back, eager to inject energy into a meandering encounter, driving at the box and almost lifting the ball over Fabianski.
Then sterling again turned provider, only for Fabianski to stand tall in frustrating the onrushing Gundogan. rice let fly from distance, straight at ederson before Fernandinho was sent on just to shore up the win.
he did more than that, taking a Jesus cross in his stride and passing into the corner to score the second. with it, he became City’s 16th different goalscorer this season.
lanzini struck back with the final kick — an eye-catching effort from the edge of the box — but it was immaterial other than
stopping ederson reaching a century of clean sheets for City. MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-4): Ederson 7; Walker 6, Dias 6, Laporte 7, Cancelo 8; GUNDOGAN 8.5, Rodri 7.5; Jesus 7.5, Mahrez 7, Silva 7.5, Sterling 8 (Fernandinho 87min). Scorers: Gundogan 33, Fernandinho 90. Booked: Laporte, Cancelo. Manager: Pep Guardiola 7 WEST HAM (4-4-1-1): Fabianski 7.5; Johnson 7, Dawson 6, Zouma 7, Cresswell 6 (Coufal 61, 6); Fornals 5.5, Rice 7, Soucek 6, Masuaku 6 (Bowen 74, 6); Benrahma 6.5 (Lanzini 59, 7); Antonio 7. Scorer: Lanzini 90+4. Manager: David Moyes 6. Referee: Michael Oliver 7. Attendance: 53,245.