Norwegian striker nets seventh goal of the season in comrehensive win
City faced West Ham away on Saturday evening and produced a dominant display to come away with the victory. The Blues made their intentions very clear from the start of the match, with incisive forward play piling on the pressure for West Ham.
It wouldn’t be long until the first goal was scored. In the tenth minute a mistake from midfielder Lucas Paqueta allowed Bernardo Silva to feed the ball through to Haaland in the box. The Norwegian slotted the ball cooly into the bottom left corner to make it 1-0 to City, providing the best possible start to the match.
The visitors continued to dominate the play in the moments after the goal, with prolonged periods of possession in the West Ham half. The Hammers, however, posed a threat on the counter attack and would go on to punish City’s high line. A run down the wing from Jarrod Bowen proved to be costly, as an attempted cross deflected off the knee of Ruben Dias into his own net giving West Ham the equaliser.
This must’ve frustrated City, who surely felt they could’ve been more than a goal up by this point, having been so dominant with possession and missing numerous chances in the process. A spectacular shot from Kevin De Bruyne being saved by Alphonse Areola to keep City from scoring a second.
Despite the home side's sudden burst into life, the Blues kept cool heads and continued to try and get their noses back in front as soon as possible. Continued pressure on the Hammers goal showed that they were seemingly unphased by the earlier blip. This eventually led to the second goal for City in the 30th minute, with a powerful shot by Haaland following a pass from Rico Lewis to restore the lead before half-time.
After the break, it was West Ham who began to counter attack at a higher pace and on a number of occasions came close to netting in another equaliser. Perhaps the most hairy moment for City was a golden opportunity for Mohammed Kudus, whose strike hit the post, much to West Ham’s agony.
Despite such close calls, it was not to be the Hammers' day in the end, with a chip from Haaland over Areola sealing the victory for City with 10 minutes remaining.
Pep Guardiola's side saw the game out to maintain their perfect start to the Premier League season, and they stand at top of the table going into the international break. This was also a second hat-trick of the season for Haaland, who is in fine form and will be looking to break more records.
For West Ham, this was the second defeat in three games. It's been a relatively subpar start to the season for them, and they will be looking to improve on this after the break.