Match Report and Player Ratings: Manchester City 4-1 West Ham (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City continued to build momentum with an emphatic 4-1 victory over West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

It was a slow a start from Pep Guardiola’s side, who perhaps should have conceded on any number of high-quality West Ham counter-attacks in the opening 10 minutes, but the bullet dodged proved a good omen for the home side.

Just after that spell of pressure from the Hammers, Savinho continued his purple patch on the left-wing by driving the ball into the back of the net thanks to a deflection off of West Ham defender Vladimír Coufal.

It was much of the same as the first-half headed towards its conclusion, with Manchester City looking to control the possession, while their visitors were ever-present on the break. But in the dying minutes of the opening interval, City found their second.

In similar to fashion to their victory at Leicester last time out, the move started on the right, but thanks to a lovely switch of play from Phil Foden, Savinho found himself in space on the left before picking out Erling Haaland with a pin-point cross, and the big striker nodded home.

The floodgates appeared to open in the second-half, as the Blues put the game to bed with two goals in three minutes, the first of which was yet another connection between Savinho and Erling Haaland.

The former played a superb ball into space for the striker to collect and chip past the onrushing keeper, and the icing on the cake came when Phil Foden got his name back onto the scoresheet after being picked out by Kevin De Bruyne from point-blank range.

The comfortable victory sees Manchester City end the day in sixth place in the Premier League table!

Player Ratings

Starting XI

Stefan Ortega-Moreno — 6

The stand-in shot-stopper had very little to do, but the lack of a clean sheet knocks him down a peg.

Rico Lewis — 7

When in possession, Rico Lewis remains a real asset for Pep Guardiola, and his ability to zip the ball around kept Manchester City a threat on the edge of the West ham box.

Manuel Akanji — 6.5

Akanji, like his partner in the centre of defence is clearly still not fully-fit, but he is still a relatively solid presence in the rear-guard.

Nathan Ake — 6.5

Ake looks leggy, an unfamiliar site when it comes to the Dutchman, but in one-versus-one situations he showed that he is still a savvy operator.

Josko Gvardiol — 7

The Croatian was perhaps a bit less active in the attack than we are used to, but some of the mistakes we have seen in the past few weeks did seem to be cleaned up.

Mateo Kovacic — 6

To no fault of his own, Kovacic is a man isolated in the holding midfield role. The veteran midfielder is a true asset with legs around him, but struggled when it was his legs that needed to carry the load.

Bernardo Silva — 7

Silva has been quietly key in Manchester City’s recent purple patch, and his combination of control and energy helped moved City from defence to attack against the Hammers.

Kevin De Bruyne — 8

While his peak his clearly behind him, De Bruyne is still a magician on the ball and he showed that in important moments Saturday afternoon.

Phil Foden — 7

We’ve all been waiting for Foden to rediscover his goalscoring form, and while his second-half goal was a simple finish, it should go some way to igniting the mercurial attacker.

Savinho — 9 (MOTM)

The Brazilian’s emergence has been a breath of fresh air in recent weeks, and he popped up with a crucial assist after creating the first goal.

Erling Haaland — 9

The big Norwegian is beginning to show flashes of the unstoppable force we’ve seen in recent years. And after two more goals on Saturday, long it may continue!

Substitutes

Kyle Walker — 6

Had little to do after joining the fray.

Ilkay Gundgoan — 6

Like Walker before him, Gundogan was just making up the numbers once City had an unassailable lead.

James McAtee — 6

The youngster didn’t make quite the same impact as he did at the King Power, but he did look comfortable in the side.

Jack Grealish — 6

It was hard to get involved in a lifeless final 10 minutes, but he did not put a foot wrong.