by Staff Writer
Sunday, 21st December 2025
Nothing to see here. Normal service resumed. West Ham slipped to a 10th Premier League defeat of what is rapidly turning into a calamitous season, as the prospect of relegation looms ever larger.
City's superstars were rarely troubled by Nuno Espirito Santo's side, who may be forgiven for thinking they have more attainable targets to tackle in coming weeks. And the Head Coach appears to be no closer to getting a tune out of this squad than either of his predecessors, with a worrying return to form after a brief renaissance in November.
Santo's pre-Villa and perfectly respectable "one defeat in six" is now a considerably more disappointing "two wins in 11", as the Hammers teeter tentatively towards to what would be a disastrous drop - and not just for the football club and its supporters, but also for the people of London who would bear an additional burden to help cover any financial losses incurred as a result.
And if the Head Coach was being fully transparent on Thursday when he claimed during his pre-match press conference that he was not currently party to any current transfer negotiations, with what could prove to be a pivotal January window just days away, it might be a suitable point for Santo to impress the urgency of the situation upon those who are, given yet another insipid, lacklustre and lifeless display by his struggling, unbalanced and quite frankly mediocre team.
Most of the travelling faithful feared the worse before kick-off and their concerns were realised within the opening eight minutes, as Erling Haaland continued his prolific form against the Hammers by opening his and City's account for the afternoon from close range after being offered a second bite at the cherry having seen his initial effort saved by Alphonse Areola.
Santo, missing regular full backs Diouf and Wan-Bissaka due to international duty saw replacements Scarles and Walker-Peters struggle initially; within a couple of minutes of the goal Scarles, making his first senior start since returning from injury was unable to prevent a cross from his side being met by Haaland, who somehow failed to miss the target despite being unchallenged.
With West Ham having to wait until around the 20-minute mark to enjoy a first spell of possession inside opposition territory - a temporary improvement that met with instant approval from the away fans, who responded with a chant of "we're in their half" - City seemed content to paw away any chances West Ham threatened to create until Tijjani Reijnders produced a smart stop from Areola, what got down low to prevent a second City goal.
However the Dutch midfielder, like his Norwegian team mate had to wait just two minutes for a second major chance to fall his way. Unfortunately for West Ham, Reijnders fired home into the roof of West Ham's net having been set up by an unselfish Haaland. 2-0 to City, a lead they preserved until the half time interval.
At such a time, a Head Coach may look to his bench in order to see how he might adjust his personnel with view to effecting a general improvement. Santo, devoid of the likes of Italy-bound Niclas Fullkrug, Luis Guilherme (not selected) and James Ward-Prowse (not considered) had just Callum Wilson and Tomas Soucek as additional attacking options available, while his opposite number - himself not entirely without injury concerns - still had a wealth of options at his disposal.
Nonetheless, West Ham's approach to the second period was undoubtedly positive; the first real chance of the half came from a Cry Summerville spurt that saw his diverted Bowen-bound centre fall to Freddie Potts, supplementing the attack from deep. The youngster wasn't the first to be denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma, but Mateus Fernades should've at least made City work harder from the rebound rather than blasting his effort over the bar.
Nine minutes later and Bowen found himself guilty of spurning perhaps West Ham's best chance of the day, as United broke quickly on the counter from a City corner. Lucas Paqueta's delicious through ball was perfectly weighted for an advancing Bowen, who took it in his stride before creating the space for an attempt at goal despite the close attentions of O'Riley. Usually so deadly from such positions, the skipper inexplicably dragged his shot wide of the far post with Donnarumma helpless to intervene.
With that miss went any hopes the Hammers harboured of taking anything from this game, although it took Guardiola's refreshed and rejuvenated side until the 69th minute to add a third goal from which there were no hopes of a comeback. Haaland, again, the provider of the final touch on the edge of the six-yard box - although West Ham were undone on their left by a swift counter attack from Man City involving three of his team mates and a fortuitous ricochet that presented him with a chance he simply couldn't miss.
Santo, knowing the game was once again well and truly up, responded with a flurry of late substitutions very much with the club's next outing against Fulham - a huge fixture now, given that West Ham will spend Christmas in the bottom three - in mind. And regardless of what happens against the Cottagers and Brighton, three days later, West Ham will almost certainly remain there until the new year at the earliest having seen the gap to 17th-place Nottingham Forest extend to five points.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
West Ham Utd: Areola, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Todibo, Scarles (Mayers 64), Potts (Wilson 79), Magassa, Fernandes (Rodriguez 79), Paqueta (Soucek 78), Summerville (Mavropanos 79), Bowen (c)
Unused subs: Hermansen, Igor, Irving, Kante
Booked: Bowen
Man City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, González (Khusanov 67), Reijnders (Lewis 67), Silva (c) (Mukasa 75), Foden, Cherki (Savinho 67), Haaland
Unused subs: Trafford, Ake, Gray, Mfuni, Heskey
Goals: Haaland (5, 70), Reijnders (38)
Booked: González
Possession: MCFC 66%-34% WHUFC
Shots/on target: MCFC 17/8-7/3 WHUFC
xG: MCFC 2.43-0.99 WHUFC
Referee: Paul Tierney
VAR: Alex Chilowicz
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