City go top with assured victory over West Ham | OneFootball

City moved to the top of the Premier League - at least for a few hours - after a comfortable 3-0 win over West Ham United.

First-half goals from Erling Haaland and Tijjani Reijnders gave the Blues a comfortable 2-0 lead at the break.

And though the Hammers improved markedly after the restart, Haaland settled the victory with his second of the game midway through the second-half to wrap up a seventh win on the trot.

The game in 250 words

Chasing a seventh consecutive win in all competitions, City got off to a flying start.

There were just five minutes on the clock when the first goal went - and it was goal No.24 this season for the prolific Erling Haaland.

Phil Foden’s cross found the Norwegian lurking near the penalty spot and while his first effort was blocked, the ball fell kindly back in his path and he smashed a shot high past Alphonse Areola to make it 1-0.

With City dominant in every area, the only surprise was the second goal didn’t arrive until the 38th minute - and it was a beautifully worked move.

Rayan Cherki won the ball outside the box with a lovely shuffle of his feet, fed Haaland in the box and he in turn found Reijnders who poked the ball high into the roof of the net from six yards.

The Hammers had offered nothing in the way of a threat in the first 45, but they were much improved in the second with Gianluigi Donnarumma forced to make a fine double save within minutes of the restart, and the dangerous Jarrod Bowen went close twice before the hour-mark.

The Blues made a triple substitution midway through the second half - and it paid dividends immediately as Savinho found Rico Lewis and his touch on allowed Haaland to bang home his second of the afternoon.

There were further chances for City to increase the lead in the time that remained, but 3-0 felt just about right on the day.

Line-ups

CITY: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Nico (Lewsi 67), Bernardo (Mukasa 75), Reijnders (Khusanov 67), Foden, Cherki (Savinho 67), Haaland

SUBS:  Trafford, Ake,, Gray, Mfuni, R Heskey

WEST HAM UNITED:  Areola, Walker-Peters, Todibo, Kilman, Scarles (Mayers 62), Magassa, Potts (Wilson 79), Fernandes (Rodriguez 79), Summerville (Mavropanos, 78), Paqueta (Soucek 79), Bowen

SUBS: Hermansen, Igor, Irving, Kante

ATTENDANCE: 52,454

Cherki magic a joy to watch

Rayan Cherki continues to blossom in a Manchester City shirt.

The young French star went through his vast array of delightful tricks, flicks, dummies and often outrageous moments of skill against West Ham - much to the delight to his legion of fans.

Cherki is the type of footballer that can make the ordinary extraordinary and his understanding with Haaland and Foden in particular is exciting and, at times, unplayable.

He is only going to get better - that’s a frightening prospect for any defender - and an exciting one for our supporters.

Star Man

Erling Haaland is pretty much unstoppable.

Already a modern-day legend, his finishing was once again superb as he took his seasonal tally for the Blues to 25.

And, for good measure, he provided the assist for Reijnders’ goal at a crucial stage of the game.

An epic performance from one of the greatest strikers we’ve ever seen.

PEP REACTION

“We did many good things defensively. Always I have to thank Erling for the goals but today thanks to him, Phil and Nico O’Reilly, they help us a lot to do this game.

“Defensively we are improving and we can visualise it but with the ball, we are away from what we have to do.

“We are not close. The way we attack depends on how the opponents defend, we have to be in the right spots to make it more fluid and we were not.

“We are happy, we cannot deny we are in the Champions League spots, the semi-final of the Carabao Cup and up there in the Champions League.

“The way we are with the ball, we have to improve otherwise it will not be enough to be title contenders in March, April and May.”

REIJNDERS REACTION

Tijjani Reijnders, speaking to Sky Sports:

“It feels good to finally score at home. I’ve waited a long time for it, today was the day. Happy to win the game as well.”

On Erling Haaland’s assist: “A good assist, he got the ball from [Rayan] Cherki and had to think fast to pass it to me then I could shoot it in.”

On title race: “We had to keep confidence and you want to win every game but with the right confidence and mentality, you can do it. It shows how much quality we have and how much we have grown as a team. It’s a good job from us and we have to keep going.

“We have to see. We will keep the pressure on them [Arsenal]. They are above us, not now but before, we have to keep the pressure on.

“We all have to do that. We have to show each game that we have the quality and play without fear. We did that very well today.”

And more from Tijjani speaking to BBC’s Match of the Day:

“Only the beginning of the second half we didn’t start quite so well. Big part of the game we controlled it and we could have made more chances if we were more secure in certain situations.”

Settling in at the club? “It’s new I think for every player who comes here. The tactics are different from my other clubs, the guys help me a lot with adjusting and I feel pretty settled here.

“It’s good. We put on a very good streak. For us we have to keep going. It’s not finished. Keep pressure on Arsenal and it’s a good time going into Christmas like this.”

what it means

City go top of the Premier League for now, with Arsenal having the chance to regain pole position later on Saturday evening if they can beat Everton away.

It is our seventh win in succession in all competitions and keeps the pressure on the Gunners up, as well as keeping Aston Villa at bay in third.

The Blues have also now scored 41 goals - 11 more than any other Premier League side ahead of this evening’s games.

Next up

City have a week’s break now before our next game.

The Blues travel to the City Ground to take on Nottingham Forest on Saturday, 27 December in the Premier League.

The game kicks off at 12:30pm (UK).

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