Manchester City Labour Past West Ham United in 1:0 Win

This was a difficult match for Manchester City but they created enough opportunities to deserve the victory, despite it only being assured after Sergio Aguero scored a penalty.

Manchester City have had much easier victories so far this season and must have cursed West Ham United who worked hard to close down chances and press every time we had the ball. There was no doubt that despite Pep Guardiola stating that tiredness after the Carabao Cup extra time victory on Sunday was not an excuse cited by winners, the legs looked heavy at times for a number of the players. City worked relentlessly to create goal scoring chances but these came and went, with each passing minute and as the clock begun to tick down there was a weariness in both the the players and the crowd.

As the chances came and went, and there were many chances which were created, we all began to sense the game could slip away. Failing to take our chances has blighted our games at key moments in the season which seems crazy to say given we are Europe’s top scoring side. But the lack of a clinical touch sometimes means we have to have seven goalscoring opportunities before we convert one and we are acutely aware our opponents tend to score from their only chance.

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The first half seemed to be increasingly punctuated by breakdowns in the attacking play, caused not necessarily by the West Ham press, but as a result of carelessness. In particular Riyad Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne were not only not on the same wave length but seemed to be in completely different time zones. The fault seemed to be on both sides, as one player would hit a pass into space but the other failed to make the move. The crowd seemed to blame Mahrez but it was the rustiness of both which was clear to me.

After just 10 minutes of the second half Pep Guardiola made a series of changes to add some impetus and intensity to the performance. He brought on Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva and the change wrought improvements. There was renewed vigour about the running and we dribbled at speed into the penalty area causing immediate difficulties for the West Ham defence.

Bernardo was tripped by Felipe Andersson and the referee pointed immediately to the spot. From my vantage point just in front it looked a clear penalty but I also thought Aguero was unfairly denied just a few minutes before when he was bundled to the ground. Sergio Aguero duly dispatched the penalty with ease and City were one goal to the good.

The goal meant that West Ham United had to change their approach and tried to create opportunities and this just served to open up greater spaces on the pitch for City to exploit. But City failed to take any of these chances and as the game went on they employed some game management techniques to make the result safe. They kept the ball much to the frustration of West Ham and also even took the ball to the corner flags.

When the dust has settled though what will be remembered here is that City got the 3 points necessary to stay in touch with the title race. We are at the stage of the season where the victory is more important than the method. Although City will take comfort that despite the tired legs they continued to create chances even after failing to convert any. Meanwhile West Ham laboured to create a single goal opportunity and that probably illustrated the current gulf between the two sides.

City press on knowing there are just 10 games left to secure a second successive Premier League victory. It must be debilitating to Liverpool who notched a 5:0 victory against Watford to realise City were grinding out a result behind them, looming like a Terminator and just waiting to make their break for the final sprint.