Posted in Premier League

Easily defeated West Ham at the London Stadium!

 August 7, 2022

West Ham, As they easily defeated West Ham at the London Stadium,

Manchester City demonstrated their superiority. Their quest to defend their Premier League championship was launched with a brace from newcomer Erling Haaland.

Alphonse Areola,

the substitute goalkeeper,

fouled the Norwegian,

who was given a penalty kick and converted it to give City the lead after 36 minutes. He later increased the advantage with a stunning one-on-one finish after being fed through West Ham’s porous defence.

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West Ham fell short of giving their record-breaking 62,500 spectators anything to cheer about. The closest they came was a header by Gianluca Scamacca,

the third-highest transfer signing for the Hammers,

which Ederson superbly stopped even though the offside flag was raised.

Two changes were made by Pep Guardiola from the team that fell to Liverpool in the Community Shield by a score of 3-1. Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden replacing Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez, respectively,

seemed to bring more balance while maintaining full vigour. It indicated that Haaland,

who joined from Borussia Dortmund this summer, was making his Premier League debut.

Because West Ham was without Angelo Ogbonna, Craig Dawson,

Issa Diop, or newly acquired Nayef Aguerd,

Ben Johnson was forced to fill the empty centre-back position by playing outside of his position. When Maxwell Cornet was unavailable and Said Benrahma was on the bench, David Moyes chose Manuel Lanzini.

The Hammers got out to a strong start, pressing hard,

creating some decent opportunities, and putting Ederson to the test almost away. Scamacca, a £60 million summer transfer,

was only fit enough to sit on the bench, thus Michail Antonio was tasked with competing against Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias. For the first 20 minutes, Antonio was successful.

However,

Lukasz Fabianski was hurt as a result of his courageous punch. Kevin De Bruyne persevered despite breaking past West Ham’s defence far too easily,

and luckily his tap-in was ruled offside. Alphonse Areola,

who spent last season on loan with the Hammers but recently signed a permanent deal, took over for Fabianski. His second season in East London did not begin well for him.

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The Norwegian was composed and confident as he confidently placed the ball in the top right corner. From that point on,

Manchester City dominated,

holding an astounding 85 percent of the ball to West Ham’s 15.

Fans were dissatisfied as they approached halftime because David Moyes’ team was unable to touch the ball.

Things became better as West Ham had greater possession of the ball and began to spread it out wide,

using Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen more. The fans were elated with the signing of Said Benrahma and Scamacca since additional opportunities were being made. Declan Rice got the first opportunity to tie the score,

but his initial finish was destroyed.

The latter played under no pressure despite having all eyes on him as he converted a penalty in the opening 45 minutes and finished off an amazing brace with a cool finish in the second half to launch his City career.

While the hosts had a thrilling start to the match,

the guests made sure they quickly felt at home with a dominant performance that foreshadowed what was to come.

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Here are five things we learned from the team’s victory at the London Stadium as the Premier League champions prevailed in what was predicted to be a potential banana skin on the first weekend.

At the time,

it appeared absurd to criticise Erling Haaland as an instant failure after Manchester City’s Community Shield loss to Liverpool, 3-1.

The Norwegian international has become just the second Sky Blues player to score a hat trick on his Premier League debut since none other than Sergio Agüero in 2011.

This has undoubtedly made them appear even more ridiculous.

The 22-year-old is the polar opposite of the rest of Manchester City’s forward group, which doesn’t tend to run well,

which made his deft movement at the London Stadium a sight to watch.

44 min Again,

West Ham’s performance was only marginally better. Fornals advanced down the left before crossing for City to clear.

43 min West Ham attempts to move Bowen down the right,

but just as it appears like he has some space, Ake comes over to dislodge him and also secures the goal kick.
GOAL! Manchester City defeats West Ham United 1-0.

Areola dives in the other direction while Haaland opens his body and lands several left-footers on the bottom left.

In front of a record-breaking crowd at the London Stadium,

Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City easily defeated West Ham 2-0 to start their Premier League championship defence.

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The largest audience of any London-based club, 62,443,

crammed into the Hammers’ home stadium, only to be greeted by Haaland’s towering presence and Ilkay Gundogan’s skill.

Following a “amazing” team performance,

Pep Guardiola later referred to midfielder Gundogan as one of City’s “most essential” players. He also praised the squad’s enormous progress since their Community Shield loss to Liverpool eight days before.

West Ham was forced to switch goalkeepers midway through the first half,

and Alphonse Areola was sent on to replace the injured Lukasz Fabianski,

much to the pleasure of “hungry” Haaland.

The former Borussia Dortmund striker’s brilliant run was discovered by a perfect Gundogan pass before he was upended by Areola,

who capitalised on the mistake of the substitute goalkeeper. As a result of the appropriately assessed penalty for the challenge,

Haaland had the ideal opportunity to score City’s first goal from 12 yards.

The opening goal from the Norwegian international was a well executed penalty kick (26),

but manager Guardiola was most pleased with his second goal. Haaland put the finishing touches on a “amazing goal”

in the 65th minute after Kevin De Bruyne’s ball split the defence.

Hammers manager David Moyes recognised in his pre-match programme notes that “our opening fixture couldn’t be more demanding,

” and his team felt the full impact of City’s attacking vigour in a match that steadily increased in entertainment value.

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Michail Antonio had a chance to open the scoring early on,

but his header narrowly missed the target. De Bruyne came the closest in the 27th minute, capping off a classic City play after being, predictably,

supplied by Gundogan. However, the goal was quickly ruled out by the linesman’s flag.

ity’s three summer acquisitions to get the start at the London Stadium,

and he scored from the spot-kick to give his new team the win. The Hammers had only 25% of the game’s possession thanks to Pep Guardiola’s team’s dominance.

With 25 minutes remaining,

Haaland finished past Alphonse Areola after latching onto Kevin de Bruyne’s through ball. With the victory,

City now leads Liverpool in the race for the championship, despite they hardly needed to break a sweat to get the three points.

Here, Mirror Football examines five talking points from City’s victory over David Moyes’ team on the first day of the season.

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