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West Ham 0-4 Manchester City
by Paul Donovan
at London Stadium
MANCHESTER CITY ran out easy winners of this uneven contest at the London stadium.
West Ham quickly went three down, as the visitors controlled the game with their quick passing possession football.
The first goal came after 10 minutes, when David Silva met a Raheem Sterling cross to slot home.
Eight minutes later, Sterling got in front of the hapless Arthur Masuaka to convert a crisp pass across goal from Leroy Sane.
West Ham had a brief rally, with Marko Arnautovic seeing his goal-bound shot smothered by a combination of goalkeeper and defender.
Michail Antonio then had a shot saved by the keeper.
But City secured a third before half-time, with Sane collecting a cross from Sterling and turning inside defender Fabian Balbuena to score.
The second half opened with a great double save by home keeper Lukasz Fabianki.
West Ham then had more of the game, and should have scored at least a couple of goals. Substitute Javier Hernandez put Antonio clean through, but his shot hit the post.
Then Arnautovic headed over from an Antonio cross, with the goal at his mercy.
Finally, Balbuena saw his downward header go past the post from a corner.
In the final minute, Sane was allowed to steer home his second, as defenders looked on.
West Ham manager, Manuel Pellegrini, was disappointed, particularly with the first two goals, where he felt things were made too easy for City.
The former City boss, though, thought West Ham showed great character to battle on, creating a number of chances that were not taken.
“I was happy with the personality of the team and that we kept attacking,” Pellegrini said.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola stressed that his team had to keep on trying to improve.
“We push each other a lot. We have to be together,” Guardiola said.