CITY RATED PRESSING ISSUE

EDERSON

Couldn’t do anything with the goal but played well otherwise, reacting quickly to the dangers his team exposed him to.

KYLE WALKER

Plenty of strong runs forward, but also contributed to a sloppy performance at the back with loose passes.

JOHN STONES

The Barnsley Beckenbauer turned into the Barnsley Balotelli with a cool finish to restore City’s lead.

RUBEN DIAS

Showed why he should be the frontrunner for Player of the Year with his usual defensive excellence, and a goal.

ALEKS ZINCHENKO

Started off playing like De Bruyne, but caught out for the goal and needlessly gave the ball away in the second half.

FERNANDINHO

A mixed bag. He was good in parts patrolling the central space but also had his pocket picked by West Ham.

ILKAY GUNDOGAN

He wasn’t as involved near the box but did a lot of good work quietly to keep shuttling the ball for his team-mates.

KEVIN DE BRUYNE

Played like a drain for pretty much the whole game...apart from when he put in a worldclass cross for the first goal.

RIYAD MAHREZ

Unable to replicate his output in recent outings for much of the game but stepped up again to provide the second goal.

FERRAN TORRES

Guilty of failing to track back for the goal but a thankless task to come into the side not on his natural side.

SERGIO AGUERO

Looked slim and fit but unfortunately also looked rusty and short of service. Missed a great chance in second half.

SUBSTITUTES

GABRIEL JESUS (AGUERO, 61): Offered more than Aguero and pushed up well. 7

PHIL FODEN (TORRES, 65): A left-footer on the left wing unsurprisingly made more headway. 7 RODRI (GUNDOGAN, 88): No time to mark. NOT USED: Steffen, Laporte, Mendy, Cancelo, Sterling, Bernardo

WEST Ham will have perked up at the sight of the City teamsheet, with a front three of Riyad Mahrez, Sergio Aguero and Ferran Torres.

The Blues have pressed the life out of opponents in the last couple of months, but those three are not noted for their closing down – while Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva – all named on the bench are superb at it.

The Hammers exploited that slackness to launch counters, and get back into the game, and Guardiola responded by putting on Foden and Jesus, to apply the screws.

Coming just three days after the long haul to Budapest, it seems Guardiola might have risked that original front three, knowing he could crank up the pressure in the last half-hour by using his subs.

ANOTHER KUN-BACK

ONE of the up-sides of Sergio Aguero’s patchy injury record for City in the last ten years has been the palpable excitement whenever he returned to action.

It is usually misplaced, as the Argentina ace almost always takes a handful of games to find his feet again, and this was no different.

He was an anonymous figure for the hour he was on the pitch, lacking that little explosion of pace and shot which has been his trademark.

VINNY 2.0

IT was his first goal for the club, so was always going to be a special moment, but the sheer passion with which Ruben Dias celebrated his header was reminiscent of a certain Blues legend.

Vincent Kompany was hardly prolific, but popped up with vital goals at the sharp end of three title-winning seasons, and was in danger of bursting a blood vessel with the intensity of his jubilation.

Dias ticks another box.

ZINCHENKO AT FAULT?

ANTONIO’S goal originated down his side, causing a few fingers to be pointed at the amount of space Vladimir Coufal got in the Hammers’ counter. The defensive questions remain over the Ukraine international, but in the opposition half he was almost pitchperfect.

He took over the impeccable Joao Cancelo’s role as inverted full back and gave further evidence that he is also a superb technical footballer.

BECK TO FRONT

KEVIN de Bruyne had a stinker of a game by his own high standards, even if his magnificent assist meant Ruben Dias could hardly fail to head home the opening goal.

But that assist took him to 77 in the Premier League, and into the top ten for the competition.

He is now just three behind United legend David Beckham – but the former England skipper took 95 more games to reach his total of 80.