If Arsenal win the Premier League, they might want to invite Mads Hermansen and Konstantinos Mavropanos to the parade, as the West Ham goalkeeper and defender led the Hammers to a stunning 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Saturday at the London Stadium.
WATCH — West Ham v Manchester City full match replay
Ex-Arsenal back Mavropanos headed home off a corner minutes after Bernardo Silva’s chip made it 1-0 to City in the first half. No one else could solve Hermansen, who kept firm control of his box with four saves amongst his 43 touches.
City managed 21 shots and West Ham had just one, but that one came when City keeper Gigio Donnarumma failed to claim a corner and Mavropanos cleaned up the opportunity.
Man City are now nine points back of Arsenal with one match-in-hand and another match against the Gunners, who firmly control their destiny.
West Ham move a point above 18th-place Nottingham Forest.
Man City’s margin of error may be gone
Stranger things have happened than Man City making up nine points on Arsenal over the final two months of the season, especially on account of Man City still having to meet Arsenal in the league, holding a match in hand, and likely to be out of the Champions League while Arsenal play on. But this was a bad draw against a Nuno Espirito Santo side who has West Ham playing his way. Erling Haaland’s cold streak continues and Guardiola has almost no attackers in good form as Antoine Semenyo’s is a bit off his game and the boss refuses to start Rayan Cherki. Right now City are leaning on the variables, and they still won’t be enough if Arsenal don’t lose another game in addition to the head-to-head meeting next month.
What’s next?
Man City host Real Madrid in a Champions League second leg on Tuesday afternoon, where they’ll look to overturn a 3-0 deficit. They then play Arsenal on March 22 in the League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
West Ham go to Aston Villa at 10:15am Sunday, March 22.
West Ham vs Manchester City final score: 1-1
Bernardo Silva 32', Konstantinos Mavropanos 35'
Both sides make attack-minded moves
Fresh legs as Castellanos is replaced by Adama Traore
Semenyo and Silva leave for City and Tijjani Reijnders joins Phil Foden on the pitch.
1-1, 75'.
West Ham sub
A defensive move from Nuno Espirito Santo in the 64th minute.
Gritty midfielder Soungoutou Magassa takes the place of attacker Pablo Felipe.
Corners
City win a series of corners but cannot convert them. 0-0, 64'.
Subs
Pep Guardiola is not wasting time. The hour mark sees Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki in for Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri. It looks like Phil Foden is also getting stripped up.
Halftime — West Ham 1-1 Man City
This half’s half on Donnarumma and half on City not finding more in the final third.
Shots are 6-1 to the visitors, who’ve held 70% of the ball. They needed their world-class keeper to catch or parry one corner kick, and he missed it.
That’s the whole game right now.
Konstantinos Mavropanos goal — West Ham 1-1 Man City
Not great from Gigio Donnarumma.
A corner kick beats Donnarumma’s judgment and Konstantinos Mavropanos is at the back post to nod off the bottom of the bar and over the line.
Short-lived lead for the visitors.
Bernardo Silva golazo! West Ham 0-1 Man City
Unbelievable stuff if it’s intended, and we think it is.
Bernardo Silva overlaps Omar Marmoush and drives toward the front post at an acute angle.
He chips a delightful ball toward the back post, and it sails just over the reach of Mads Hermansen and nestles inside frame.
If it’s a cross, it’s awful.
More of the same
City have had 76% of the ball through 30 minutes but only three shot attempts and a meager 0.13 xG.
West Ham have yet to take a shot.
Slowish start
Man City looking superior, as expected, but there hasn’t been a lot of flow in the first 14 minutes.
Scoreless.
West Ham lineup
Hermansen, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Disasi, Todibo, Diouf, Soucek, Fernandes, Pablo, Bowen, Castellanos
Manchester City lineup
Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, Ait-Nouri, Rodri, Bernardo (C), O’Reilly, Marmoush, Semenyo, Haaland
West Ham vs Man City preview — by Joe Prince-Wright
Relegation-threatened West Ham host title-chasing Manchester City on Saturday in an intriguing clash in east London.
The Hammers reached the FA Cup quarterfinals after beating Brentford on penalty kicks on Monday, while Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have lost just two of their last eight league games and they are in very decent form. Last time out in the Premier League they secured a huge 1-0 win at Fulham to get them within touching distance of safety. West Ham still sit in the bottom three but they are now in a straight scrap with Spurs, Leeds and Nottingham Forest to avoid finishing in the third and final relegation spot. They have momentum.
Manchester City have had a tough week as they were hammered 3-0 at Real Madrid on Wednesday in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last 16 tie. Pep Guardiola’s side now have a mountain to climb in the second leg next week but they’re also in the thick of a title race with Arsenal and are seven points behind the Gunners with nine games to go. Crucially, City have a game in-hand and still have to host Arsenal in mid-April. But there is no room for any more slip ups after their damaging home draw against Nottingham Forest last time out in the league.
West Ham team news, focus
Star winger Crysencio Summerville is a doubt with a knock, while Lukasz Fabianski remains out of the team. If Summerville is fit then West Ham’s starting lineup is very settled, as the Dutch winger has caused havoc on the left and Jarrod Bowen is doing the same on the right wing. Mateus Fernandes has been excellent in midfield and Taty Castellanos is leading the line extremely well up top. Defensively West Ham have improved but that uptick will be severely tested against a wounded City side.
Manchester City team news, focus
Guardiola will rotate heavily and injuries have calmed down so he can do that, with Foden, Reijnders, Marmoush, Ait-Nouri, and Cherki all likely to start. City will feel they are still in their Champions League tie, so they will have one eye on that. First and foremost they have to take care of business at West Ham but they’ve shown signs of defensive issues on the counter and that plays in to West Ham’s hands.
West Ham vs Manchester City prediction
This has more than a whiff of an upset about it but Man City will probably get the win late to keep their title push alive. West Ham 1-2 Manchester City.
How to watch West Ham vs Manchester City live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 4pm ET Saturday (March 14)
Venue: London Stadium — East London
TV Channel: USA
Streaming: Watch on USA Network