Sane and Sterling sublime as City cruise to victory over West Ham

Manchester City were imperious once again on Saturday afternoon as they cruised to a 4-0 win over West Ham at the London Stadium. Leroy Sane was on the double for City while Raheem Sterling and David Silva added to their impressive start of season form.

The London Stadium has been a happy hunting ground for City since it’s opening in 2017 and the Blues have now scored 17 goals in their previous four visits. City came into this game on the back of a dominant display in the Manchester Derby two weeks ago and there were no signs of slowing down in the opening 10 minutes.

David Silva continued his fine run of scoring form when he kicked off proceedings in the 11th minute, making it four games in a row he has netted. Some nice play down City’s right hand side between Kyle Walker and Raheem Sterling allowed Silva to drift into the box unmarked, his near post run was picked out by Sterling and the Spaniard calmly caressed the ball past Fabianksi with his right foot.

West Ham reacted well to going a goal down and Pellegrini had clearly given a message of intent on how to attack City to his players, but the home side found themselves two goals behind only 8 minutes later.

Leroy Sane found himself in space on the edge of the West Ham box and decided to take on former City man Pablo Zabaleta down the channel, his burst of pace was followed up with a delightful ball across the 6 yard box and into the path of the onrushing Sterling, who tapped home for his 7th goal of the season.

City were now in full flow and as every minute passed by, so did the tempo of the away sides football. The more West Ham pushed on to try and get something out of the game, the more space there was in behind for the lighting quick City forwards to exploit.

West Ham did create a couple of chances in the first half, probably more than anyone would have expected, but there final effort let them down. Michail Antonio had a number of good chances for the Hammers but was unable to find a way past Ederson.

Down the other end Fabianski wasn’t having quite so much good fortune. Per Guardiola’s side all but put the game to bed on 34 minutes when Leroy Sane added his name to the scoresheet. Raheem Sterling found himself inside the West Ham area and after a lovely floated cross to the back post found him, he was able to open his foot up and delivery a beautifully guided volley into the path of the unmarked German. Sane managed to side step both Fabian Balbuena and Lukas Fabianski to slot home City’s third.

After the break the home side gave it their best efforts to try and get back into the game but in reality the Blues only looked troubled on one occasion when Antonio hit the outside of the post when he should of scored.

Guardiola introduced Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus in the second half for City as they took control of the ball for the majority of the second 45. At times City weren’t as free flowing as they have shown at times this season but their quality showed in the final stages of the game.

City grabbed their fourth in added time as Foden and Mahrez linked up well on the edge of the box to play through Gabriel Jesus, the Brazilian dinked a ball to the back post to the waiting Leroy Sane. The 22 year-old was measured in taking a touch and driving a powerful left footed strike into the back of the net to round off a dominant display.

City didn’t seem to be at their most fluent best at times today but still managed to rout a very decent West Ham side coming off the back of an international break. Next up is Lyon on Tuesday as City will look to guarantee qualification into the latter stages of the Champions League.