Manchester City vs. West Ham: Winners and Losers from Premier League
Manchester City arrested their recent slump as they cruised to a 2-0 victory over West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday—a winning margin that could, and perhaps should, have been even greater.
Sam Allardyce's side—who have been on a shocking run of their own in recent times—never really got to grips with the reigning Premier League champions, who dictated the contest almost from the first whistle. James Collins' unfortunate own goal gave Manuel Pellegrini's side the early advantage, before Sergio Aguero notched his 20th league goal of the season to wrap up the three points.
The one sour note for City was an injury to David Silva, who was stretchered off with a suspected broken cheekbone after catching an elbow to the face from Cheikhou Kouyate.
Click on for some winners and losers from the game at the Etihad Stadium.
Winner: Jesus Navas
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Jesus Navas provided both assists as Manchester City claimed an important victory, justifying Manuel Pellegrini's recent faith in him.
The former Sevilla player was just about the most impactful player on the pitch, with his two passes proving decisive in the final outcome of the game.
The first assist was slightly fortuitous, perhaps, but nevertheless the intent was there when Navas reacted first to Adrian's poor goal-kick. He immediately aimed a cross in at Sergio Aguero, a delivery that had covering defender James Collins backtracking at full speed. The defender got there but could not make the clearance, instead sending his attempted clearance across the goal line with the sort of finish Aguero would have been pretty happy with.
Navas' second assist was more deliberate, and this time Aguero was indeed the beneficiary. Navas could have gone it alone when the Argentinian found him on the counter-attack and released him into the box, but instead he dragged his defender away from goal and returned the ball to Aguero, who suddenly had yards of space inside the centre of the box.
Aguero did what strikers of his class invariably do, and City had effectively wrapped up the three points.
As football journalist Richard Jolly pointed out on Twitter, only two players have contributed more assists than Navas in the Premier League this season—Angel Di Maria and Cesc Fabregas. He's often maligned for his perceived lack of contribution, but no one could level that accusation at Navas on Sunday, as he knitted the team together with his interplay, offered width with his movement and then set up both goals.
"We came from two defeats in a row and always when one is a derby it is worse," Pellegrini said, per Football365.com. "It was important to be a consistent team, and we played especially, for the first 65 minutes until the injury of David that was a distraction, as a consistent team.
"In other games we have played some minutes, but today I think we played the whole game."
Loser: James Collins
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James Collins' somewhat comical own goal in the 18th minute set the tone for both teams early on. West Ham were already on their heels when the defender's mishit clearance beat his own goalkeeper (crossing the line after clipping the crossbar), and they never seemed to be on the verge of recovering after the miscue.
Much like Richard Dunne and Jamie Carragher, Collins seems to have an uncanny knack for producing a remarkable own goal at just the wrong time. The veteran defender looked to have time to deal with Jesus Navas' low cross, but he got his feet horribly tangled and ended up looking rather foolish.
West Ham failed to bounce back from the gaffe, although that will be more of a concern for Sam Allardyce than anyone else. Allardyce was already facing serious and sustained questions about his future at the club, and this was not a performance where you could seriously say the players were playing hard for their manager.
Winner: Sergio Aguero
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Sergio Aguero found the back of the net to clinch the points for his side, and in the process, he moved to the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts with 20 goals for the season. (Harry Kane would later pull level again.)
The Argentinian was in impressive form all afternoon, tormenting West Ham with his movement and technical quality on the ball. His goal was partly of his own making, as he fed Navas before receiving the return pass and slotting past Adrian in typically clinical fashion.
With little left for City to play for this season—fourth is on the agenda, but they have a certain amount of breathing room—individual awards perhaps shift into focus for some players. After missing out on the PFA Player of the Year short list, Aguero might figure that winning the Premier League golden boot would be a fitting response.
Appearing to be in good form with five games remaining in the season, Aguero has positioned himself nicely to achieve that feat.
Loser: Sam Allardyce
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Since he's dealing with increasingly probing questions about his future at the club with every passing week, this was not a performance to offer much reason to believe Sam Allardyce will be at West Ham beyond the end of the season.
There was no real spirit and little inspiration behind West Ham's display, as they were caught out by City's fast start to the contest and never really gained a foothold. They created a few half-chances, but these were as much a result of City mistakes as any Hammers invention. Ultimately, considering the flow of the contest as a whole, a 2-0 defeat was perhaps better than the visitors deserved.
Allardyce may not have seriously expected to win this match, but the manner of the performance—and he has banged on about performances a lot recently—hardly offered compelling evidence as to why he should be retained beyond the end of this season.
Afterward, Allardyce said, per Sky Sports:
"The disappointing thing firstly was the goals were gifted to Manchester City and, secondly, the amount of possession we allowed ourselves to lose.
The two mistakes we made for the goals, one was pretty bizarre and the other unexpected from a player as experienced as Stewart Downing.
We had the resilience and determination to try to fight back and in the second half, eventually changing the system got us back playing better going forward.
We created good chances for Kevin Nolan and Enner Valencia but you have got to convert them.
"
Winner: Eliaquim Mangala
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One less-heralded winner from the game was Eliaquim Mangala, who perhaps exacted a measure of revenge against a team that gave him an awkward welcome to English football.
When West Ham beat City earlier in the season at Upton Park, Sam Allardyce was happy to reveal his tactics afterward, declaring with a certain glee that he had told his players to focus on Mangala, who was still integrating himself into the side, in particular.
The comments drew a laser-like focus on the expensive summer signing, who soon dropped out of the starting XI and has only gradually returned.
On this day, however, he slotted into a defence that was without Vincent Kompany and did a solid job against Carlton Cole and Enner Valencia, occasionally even cleaning up after his partner Martin Demichelis made a couple of errors in judgment.
The Frenchman does not deserve to be showered with praise—ultimately, he did not have to do too much—but it was nevertheless a positive memory after a difficult first experience of facing the Hammers.
