Manchester City moved 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League after a hard-fought 2-1 win over top-four hopefuls West Ham on Saturday.
Goals from centre-back pairing Ruben Dias and John Stones, either side of Michail Antonio’s equaliser for the Hammers, saw Pep Guardiola’s side win a staggering 20th match in a row in all competitions.
In previous years this would’ve been a fixture that suggested 90 minutes of pressure from Manchester City and a lot of defending from West Ham. However, this wasn’t the case during a close encounter at the Etihad Stadium.
The game started slowly but burst into life on 30 minutes when City took the lead with their first attempt of the game.
Kevin De Bruyne shifted the ball onto his left foot from the right side of the pitch and delivered a pinpoint cross into the box and towards Dias. The Portuguese defender rose highest and powered a header past the helpless West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
Despite going behind, the Hammers continued to probe and equalised two minutes before half-time. Right wing-back Vladimir Coufal made a lung-busting run down the right-hand side before cutting the ball back from the byline to Jesse Lingard. The midfielder, on loan from Manchester United, shot but it was going wide before Antonio steered it in to level the scoreline.
The game remained level until midway through the second half when Stones became City’s unlikely matchwinner. The centre back has had a real resurgence of form recently and that continued with his strike on Saturday. Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez beat Ben Johnson down the hosts’ right-hand side before pulling a cross back towards the penalty spot. And right on cue was Stones to fire a first-time shot into the bottom left-hand corner.
As the game wore on, the Hammers showed increasing signs of fatigue but came close to equalising in injury time. Lingard whipped a dangerous ball into the box but the unmarked Issa Diop could only somehow head the delivery wide.
That was the final chance before the full-time whistle was blown and City will come away relieved knowing they were in a real battle and came through it.
Despite for the defeat for David Moyes’ side there will be plenty of encouragement from their display as they battle for a top-four finish. They currently sit fourth in the table but could get overtaken by bitter London rivals Chelsea if they beat Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
By Will Tyrrell
