English Football
Man City come back to beat West Ham
Second-half goals from Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva, and Erling Haaland helped Man City come from behind to beat in-form West Ham and continue their winning start to the Premier League season.
James Ward-Prowse’s diving header gave the Hammers the lead against the run of play, but Doku’s first Man City goal restored parity 43 seconds after the interval.
Silva then collected Julian Alvarez’s looping ball over the top of the West Ham defence before calmly prodding past the onrushing Alphonse Areola.
Haaland, who had squandered several earlier opportunities, completed the scoring at London Stadium with a trademark finish.
“All game we were fantastic, even when we were losing at halftime against an incredible side,” City manager Pep Guardiola told BBC Sport. “We were efficient and patient in the second half.
“It was a big win after the international break. The team showed good spirit to survive.”
City maintain their two-point lead over Tottenham and Liverpool at the top of the table, while West Ham drop to sixth thanks to their first defeat of the campaign.
There was little wrong with Man City’s first-half display, but, despite registering 17 shots before the break, they could not find a way past Areola and West Ham’s deep-lying rearguard.
They went close to taking a deserved lead after only six minutes, but Areola produced fine saves to deny Rodri and Ruben Dias either side of Tomas Soucek’s goal-line block from Haaland.
The Norwegian, of all people, squandered two glorious opportunities before halftime, somehow steering Doku’s low cross wide of the far post before having another shot cleared off the line by the retreating Nayef Aguerd.
Guardiola, back in the Man City dugout following surgery, will have asked for more of the same from his players at halftime, and they were level moments after the restart as the lively Doku cut in from the left before producing an expert finish.
Reflecting on the 21-year-old Belgian’s performance, Guardiola said: “I would say that the first game (against Fulham) he was shy, but today he was not. He was a proper winger, having the ball and the ability to go one-on-one.
“Not just that—he has the quality to read when to make the pass for the next player. I was very happy. It was a very good performance from Jeremy.”
Alvarez rattled a post with a magnificent free-kick not long after Doku’s leveller, but Man City were not to be denied as the Argentine scooped a clever ball over the West Ham backline for Silva to poke home.
Haaland delivered the icing on the cake late on, extending his league tally to seven goals in five games this season with a smart finish from Silva’s pass.
