Manchester City fought their way to a 3-1 victory over West Ham United on Sunday afternoon to maintain their perfect start to the season, although it was overshadowed somewhat by an alleged elbow by Sergio Aguero which could see him face retrospective action and a ban ahead of the derby at Old Trafford in two weeks.
The Blues looked in fine form in the first half at the Etihad, taking the lead after just seven minutes via Raheem Sterling, who put in another fantastic performance. Some superb build-up play put Gael Clichy through in the West Ham box, and he was able to play it back before he reached the by-line, finding Sterling in the centre. The rejuvenated winger sidefooted home with his first touch, rounding off a good start for City.
Fernandinho then got himself on the scoresheet with his first league goal in almost exactly a year, rising highest to nod home a Kevin De Bruyne free-kick on 17 minutes. The Brazilian is adapting well to his new role of sitting deep between the centre-backs, but is taking his chances to go forward when he can, and his goal allowed City to go into cruise control.
More and more time playing Pep Guardiola’s system competitively is allowing the players to adapt to it and play the football which is expected of them this year, and that showed against The Hammers. Some of the passing moves were just sublime, with a long string of passes almost resulting in a third in the 40th minute.
However defensive fragility still remains, and Michail Antonio capitalised on that to get West Ham back in the game after 58 minutes with a header at the back post, reminiscent of the winner he scored at the London Stadium against Bournemouth a week ago. The goal put City on edge, evident in their loss of control on the ball and skittishness when The Hammers got a hold of it.
The Blues managed to hold out though, and Sterling added another moments after being voted Man of the Match by fans, to cap off another fantastic performance from him. Silva hit the post moments earlier, but played Sterling in to round Adrian and roll the ball home from an impossibly acute angle, in a fashion that would have been unimaginable from him last year or this summer’s European Championships.
The club will wait and see following Aguero’s elbow on Winston Reid, but he could miss games against United, Bournemouth and Swansea if he does pick up a ban from the FA.
All in all, it was another positive performance from City, but attention needs to be paid to the defence after no clean sheets in the opening three Premier League games. Claudio Bravo completed his move this week, which should help, but the return of Vincent Kompany – who could start with the armband at Old Trafford – will be a big boost to any title hopes.
