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Manchester –
Manchester City struggled to beat West Ham United 2-1. All the goals of the Citizens were scored by the centrals, Ruben Dias and John Stones.
In the duel that took place at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday (2/27/2021), City and West Ham shared numbers in the first half. Dias gave City the lead before Michail Antonio tied.
However, in the second half, City closed three points through the Stones goal. City won 20 consecutive victories in all competitions and solidified its position in top of the Premier League standings with 62 points from 26 games, 13 ahead of Manchester United in second place.
West Ham came in fourth with 45 points and Chelsea’s position is prone to change.
[Gambas:Opta]The Man City vs West Ham game
City rotated keeping Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling and Joao Cancelo in reserve. Meanwhile, Sergio Agüero, Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Ferran Torres were played.
City kept control of the game and forced West Ham to survive long. However, West Ham was able to annoy them several times on the counterattack.
Ederson was quick to clear a header from Michail Antonio in the 19th minute despite the crowd of West Ham players in front of him.
The City’s attacks finally paid off in the 30th minute. Kevin De Bruyne receives the ball from the right side of City’s attack and passes the ball into the box with his left foot.
The centrals of the city, John Stones and Ruben Dias, wanted to say hello. Dias then managed to get the ball into Darren Randolph’s goal.
 Ruben Dias gave Man City a 1-0 lead Photo: AP / Gareth Copley |
After conceding, West Ham even dared to go out and attack. In the 39th minute an attack from the right by Pablo Fornals was received by Michail Antonio and he fired with his back to goal but the ball hit the crossbar and went wide.
West Ham finally leveled in the 43rd minute. Returning from the right, the visitors pressed through Vladimir Coufal, who pulled Lingard into the penalty area.
Lingard’s shot went wide, but Antonio quickly grabbed it at the far post to break Ederson’s net. This is the goal of the open game against City for the first time since last September.
 West Ham United tied 1-1 Photo: AP / Martin Rickett |
The 1-1 scoreline closes the first half of the game.
At the start of the second half, City had a difficult time penetrating West Ham’s defense, which played very tight. Various attacks through De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez always failed to produce golden opportunities.
To increase the power of the blows, City replaced Gabriel Jesús in the 61st minute in the 61st minute. However, the one who scored and put City back in front was John Stones.
In the 68th minute, Stones went ahead of West Ham’s goal to receive Mahrez’s bait from the right and could not be led by Randolph.
 Man City wins 2-1 through John Stones Photo: AP / Gareth Copley |
After that, City felt more comfortable controlling the game and West Ham were unable to put pressure on the City defense.
West Ham came close to equalizing in injury time stoppage time when Issa Diop headed a cross from Jesse Lingard, but turned to the left of Ederson’s goal.
City finally closed the game with a 2-1 victory.
Player lineup
Manchester City: Ederson; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Ilkay Guendogan (Rodri 88 ‘); Riyad Mahrez, Ferran Torres (Phil Foden 65 ‘), Sergio Agüero (Gabriel Jesus 61’).
West Ham United: Darren Randolph; Issa Diop, Craig Dawson, Aaron Cresswell; Vladimir Coufal, Tomas Soucek, Declan Rice; Ben Johnson (Jarod Bowen 84 ‘); Pablo Fornals, Jesse Lingard, Michail Antonio (Said Benrahma 84 ‘).
(mrp / crude)
