West Ham cannot hold out at title-chasing Man City

The Hammers held out until half-time – becoming the first side to deny Pep Guardiola’s men a first-half goal this season – but were breached by Nathan Ake soon after the restart.

And Erling Haaland then made Premier League history with his 35th goal of the campaign – and 51st in all competitions – before Phil Foden’s late effort brought City’s 1,000th goal under Pep Guardiola.

David Moyes made four changes to his side after the 4-3 loss at Crystal Palace, with Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Nayef Aguerd all missing out due to a reported sickness bug, while Kurt Zouma was injured at Selhurst Park and is out for at least a couple of weeks.

Aaron Cresswell captained the side on his returning to the starting XI, with Thilo Kehrer, Angelo Ogbonna and Flynn Downes also coming in as Lukasz Fabianksi made his 400th appearance in English football.

City, meanwhile, were on an eight-match Premier League winning streak, the best of any side in the top flight this season, and had 13 wins in their last 14 league and cup outings.

Their home record in 2023 also read 12 straight wins by an aggregate of 44-6, further highlighting the enormity of the job facing the Hammers.

History was not on their side either, with the east Londoners without a win in their last 14 league games with City going back to September 2015 and the defending champions having won 17 of 21 Premier League home meetings between the clubs.

And the game was barely a minute old when Haaland found Julian Alvarez, whose long-range shot was held by Fabianski.

Ruben Dias was fortunate not to receive a booking after taking out Michail Antonio on 13 minutes, as the visitors enjoyed a good spell of their own, despite City dominating possession for the most part but not creating much of note.

Jarrod Bowen’s shot was saved by Stefan Ortega on 29 minutes, but the best chance came soon after as Riyad Mahrez found John Stones, who picked out Jack Grealish to cut in and fire against the outside of a post.

And City went close again when Haaland found Rodri, who sidefooted the ball past Fabianski but saw it hit the upright and roll across goal but not over the line.

Stones nodded wide from a corner, while Bernardo Silva had penalty shouts turned down after tripping over Angelo Ogbonna.

And Pablo Fornals fired well over two minutes before the break, before Haaland went down in the box but got nothing from referee John Brooks as the scoreline remained blank at the interval.

It was the first time City had gone in at half-time of a Premier League game at the Etihad this season with the score goalless.

The deadlock was broken just four minutes after the restart, though, as Flynn Downes fouled Grealish and was shown a yellow card, with the unmarked Ake heading in at the far post from the Mahrez free-kick.

It was the first goal West Ham had conceded from a free-kick all season and Grealish shot wide soon after, when Fabianski forced Haaland wide, before Vladimir Coufal went off injured on the hour mark to be replaced by Ben Johnson.

Antonio made way for Danny Ings midway through the second half, with Alvarez curling a 20-yard shot into the hands of Fabianski.

But City doubled their lead on 70 minutes when Haaland broke his latest record, running onto a Grealish pass and lobbing Fabianski, and substitute Foden made it 3-0 five minutes from time when his volley hit Emerson and flew past Fabianski.

Ortega palmed away a late effort from Lucas Paqueta to deny the Hammers a consolation as they were left four points above the drop zone, with the red half of Manchester due to visit London Stadium on Sunday (7pm).

West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal (Johnson 61), Kehrer, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Emerson, Downes, Fornals, Paqueta, Bowen (Benrahma 79), Antonio (Ings 67).

Unused subs: Areola, Anang, Lanzini, Cornet.

Attendance: 53,305.