PEP STUCK IN IRONS GRIP
Antonio stuns City who lose points and Aguero
MANCHESTER CITY spent the afternoon banging their heads against a claret-andblue wall as West Ham picked up their first point against them since 2016.
And to add to 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 hopes to have a clearer picture of the extent of the damage today. Aguero had just returned for last weekend’s victory over Arsenal and scored in the Champions League in midweek.
But he was taken off here and replaced by Phil Foden, whose goal five minutes after coming on cancelled out Michail Antonio’s stunning 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 Premier League games prior to this one, were defensively superb and throughly 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 to 10 minutes of the first half.
“In the second half, we were better and 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 we also have to analyse the situation that we are in.
“We’re struggling with many injuries, a lack of preparation and all 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 and we don’t have enough regeneration with the players.”
West Ham took the lead against the run of play when Antonio scored a delightful overhead kick from Vladimir
The reality is that we are struggling with one or two weeks without preparation... we need time
Coufal’s cross. But Foden l e v e l l ed matters soon after his arrival with a neat finish on the turn – the one and only time all afternoon that West Ham’s defence switched off.
For much of this game, watching City try to find a way through was a bit like watching someone trying to get into a can with a broken ring pull.
And, while West Ham boss David Moyes knows 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 and hard to score against. With what City are capable of, it was good for us.
“The second half was very difficult, but it was brilliant character from the players.”
This draw made it four games unbeaten in the league for West Ham – a very good return when you consider each of those fixtures was against a team that ended 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.
Antonio, as he has been for most of the early season, was also excellent, but he limped off in the second half.
He will be scanned today to see if he has a h hamstring a m st r i n problem or was just suffering from cramp.