Raheem Sterling scored a brilliant brace to
ensure Manchester City continued their 100 per cent start to the Premier
League season with a 3-1 victory over West Ham on Sunday.
Fernandinho grabbed the other before Michail Antonio's
consolation at the Etihad Stadium as an impressive City side held off a
West Ham fightback to move above Chelsea and Manchester United to go
top.
Sergio Aguero, though, could yet face retrospective action
from the FA after he appeared to aim an elbow at West Ham defender
Winston Reid.
City
were ahead inside seven minutes as they quickly stamped their authority
on a much-changed West Ham side. Slaven Bilic had opted to switch his
formation to 5-3-2 following their Europa League defeat on Thursday, but
the tie didn't start as he would have planned.
Manchester City's Fernandinho celebrates scoring his side's second goal of the game
David
Silva started a wonderful move for the home side, roaming through the
West Ham defence before finding Nolito out wide on the left.
The
Spain international cut a cross behind the West Ham back-line to
Sterling, who found the corner of the net for City's first of the game
and his first of the season.
Guardiola's side continued to apply
the pressure on a lacklustre West Ham side after their opener, and it
only took another 11 minutes for them to double their lead.
Michail Antonio (right) scored for West Ham in the second half
A
simple free kick on the right flank was whipped in perfectly by Kevin
De Bruyne, and Fernandinho was there to rise highest and power a header
past a helpless Adrian to score his first goal in nearly a year.
As
the second half got underway, it appeared the match was only heading in
one direction as City continued to pepper Adrian's goal.
Nolito
thought he had made the score 3-0 just minutes after the restart when he
chested past the goalkeeper, but the linesman's flag was up for an
obvious offside.
While it seemed to be heading for a simple home
win midway through the second period, from nowhere, West Ham turned the
game on its head to pull one back.
Sterling completed the scoring from close range in injury time
Arthur Masuaku
- much improved from previous performances in the West Ham defence -
lifted a cross from the left towards the back post, where Antonio was
waiting.
Peeling off Gael Clichy to outjump Nicolas Otamendi, the
former Nottingham Forest winger headed past Willy Caballero to make it
2-1.
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