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Manchester City succumbed to their first defeat this season to West Ham. The Citizens lost 1-2 at the Etihad to the Hammers who went 2 goals up before Kevin De Bruyne would pull one back but City could not break down a resolute backline in the 45 minutes of the second half to end the game with the same scoreline they had at half time.
An early goal from Chelsea loanee Victor Moses along with a goal from Diafra Sakho would prove too much for the most expensive starting XI the Premier League has ever seen over the course of 90 minutes. It not only marked City’s first loss this season, it was also the first time they conceded too.
While, Slaven Bilic’s side put in a strong performance, especially in the first half, they started to show some chinks in their armour which the Sky Blues were trying to exploit but only succeeding on one occasion when Kevin De Bruyne put the ball past Adrian with a low drive from outside the box.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side came out in the second half looking to continue with more of the same and at times looked like they would make the breakthrough but Adrian seemed to repel everything thrown at him almost out of sheer will. Nothing seemed to be going in favour of Argentine Sergio Aguero as strikes you would expect him to bury in a regular game got away from him time after time.
The result means that City have lost the cushion that they had and if Manchester United win on Sunday against Southampton, their lead will be cut short to a mere 2 points. Meanwhile, West Ham have continued an impressive trend of beating top teams, adding Manchester City to their checklist after having taken down Arsenal and Liverpool.
EPL roundup
Chelsea had a good day amid all the controversy as they emerged victors over Arsenal by a 2-0 scoreline, though the Gunners finished the game with 10 men. Other fixtures on the day saw Swansea and Everton play out a goalless draw, though it wasn’t for the lack of trying from either side. Arouna Kone at one point had the Swansea goal at his mercy but was unable to capitalise on the glorious opportunity.
While Aston Villa were not able to prevent West Brom from scoring as they lost 0-1 at Villa Park courtesy of a goal from Saido Berahino who returned to action in style for the Baggies. Another draw on Saturday was the one between Stoke and Leicester City. The Potters went 2 goals up early through goals from Bojan and Jonathan Walters but Claudio Ranieri’s team have had a never say die attitude this season and that showed in their return to come back and finish 2-2 in a tough away fixture with goals from Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy.
The trend of away wins continued this weekend too with Watford emerging 1-2 winners against a struggling Newcastle side for whom Daryl Janmaat scored the solitary goal. Odion Ighalo was the one who made the difference for the newly-promoted side. Another side who just came up from the championship had a good weekend as Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth continue to turn heads with their 2-0 win over Sunderland, Callum Wilson once again on the scoresheet along with a splendid volley by Matt Ritchie.
