Antonio stunner earns West Ham deserved draw against City

A solid defensive performance and brilliant bicycle kick from Michail Antonio helped West Ham to a deserved draw against Manchester City.

West Ham were looking to make it four unbeaten games in a row in the Premier League. The Hammers have won two and drawn one of their last three games in what has been a surprisingly good start to the season.

Manchester City came into the game having won their last two games in all competitions. The Citizens beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Premier League before dispatching FC Porto 3-1 in the Champions League.

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David Moyes made no changes to the side that completed that amazing comeback against Tottenham. The biggest shock for West Ham was the absence of new signing Said Benrahma. The Algerian was expected to be on the bench for the match.

City were also unchanged from their previous match. Kevin De Bruyne and Aymeric Laporte both returned to training, but only De Bruyne made the bench out of the two.

Match Report: First-Half

Pep Guardiola had won all nine of his matches against the Hammers and City got off to a good start and were dominating the early proceedings. The Hammers were sitting deep and trying to hit the visitors on the counter-attack.

The home side did get themselves into the match and were having some success on the right-wing with Jarrod Bowen. The Englishman was causing the young Eric Garcia some issues but was unable to make any clear chances.

West Ham were able to make an attack on the right count on the 17th minute. Tomas Soucek kept the ball alive and passed to compatriot Vladimir Coufal. The Czech crossed the ball first time to Michail Antonio. The attacker held off Ruban Dias and fired in an overhead kick past the helpless Ederson in the Manchester City goal.

The Citizens were going to roll over though. The former champions of England pushed forward and were putting the Hammers under constant pressure. West Ham was defending well but were unable to keep the ball out of their half for a substantial amount of time.

Despite City controlling the majority of possession, the Hammers were standing firm and making it difficult for the visitors. West Ham were finishing the first half the better of the two. Soucek and Arthur Masuaku had efforts from range blocked by the City defenders.

Match Report: Second-Half

Guardiola made one change at half-time. Phil Foden replaced Sergio Aguero, the Englishman’s inclusion meant City were not playing with a recognised striker in the second period. Perhaps the Spanish manager was taking inspiration from Moyes.

The change worked within six minutes of the restart. Joao Cancelo charged down the left beating Coufal for pace. The Portuguese defender crossed the ball to Foden who controlled the ball and hit his shot on the spin. The Englishman’s shot rifled into the near post to equalise. To make matters worse for West Ham Antonio was forced off with an injury being replaced by Andriy Yarmolenko.

Manchester City clearly had their tails up after Foden’s goal. The Citizens started to dominate possession and were looking to grab the goal that would put them in the lead. The Hammers were still defending well and looking to hit City on the counter-attack. However, they were clearly shaken by the equaliser and Antonio’s injury.

Despite City’s pressure, they were unable to create a clear-cut chance on goal. Their best effort was Kyle Walkers thirty-yard-drive which was well stopped by Lukasz Fabianski. Yarmolenko had an effort from twenty-yards for the Hammers. The Ukrainian could not keep his shot down though.

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With twenty minutes to go, both managers sensed the chance for a win. Guardiola threw on De Bruyne in place of Bernardo Silva, and Moyes replaced Bowen with Sebastien Haller.

The changes seemed to have little effect on the match. City were still pressing for a second goal. West Ham, however, were still defending well, but unable to clear the ball to for a substantial amount of time to relieve the pressure.

Guardiola made his final change available. Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced Walker as the Spanish manager looked to change the team’s tactics for the final twelve minutes.

Fornals had a chance to restore the Hammers lead. The 24-year-old was played through on goal. The midfielder was forced wide and Ederson came rushing out, Fornals tried to lob the goalkeeper but got the effort all wrong. The effort was simply caught by the Brazilian.

City started to look very dangerous on the attack as the game started to open up in the closing moments. Raheem Sterling had two chances which were saved by Fabianski and marshalled out by the defence.

Three minutes of injury time were added on at the end. City hit the post via a Fabiansku save in the dying seconds. But West Ham did enough to earn a point and put a stop to CIty’s domination over them at the London Stadium

The Hammers are unbeaten in four and stay tenth in the Premier League, Manchester City remains one place behind West Ham on goal difference.