Sterling double strike helps Man City beat West Ham 3-1

Fulltime: Manchester City 3 [R. Sterling 7′, 90′ Fernandinho 18′] – 1 West Ham United [M. Antonio 58′]

Manchester City beat West Ham United 3-1 in a Premier League match that just ended at Etihad Stadium.

Raheem Sterling opened an early scoreline at the seventh minute, while Fernandinho topped the ledger in the eighteenth minute.

Hard fighting West Ham United, however, got an energizer courtesy of a Michail Antonio strike in the 58 minute.

A roaring GOOOOAAAL! got the fans glued to their seat when Fernandinho, who refused to call a day, scored in the ninetieth minute.

City didn’t just race out of the blocks, they set a pace Usain Bolt would have been proud of.  

The intensity that has long been the hallmark of any Pep Guardiola side was evident from the first minute.

The sky blue shirts swarm around West Ham players every time the ball was with the opposition – in fact the Hammers just couldn’t live with the Blues’ pace and work-rate.

Sergio Aguero and David Silva went within a foot or so of opening the scoring before Raheem Sterling actually did – all with less than six minutes on the clock. 

It began with Silva’s incisive run through the middle, fending off his marker.

He then slide the ball to Nolito who picked out Sterling in the middle and the England winger made no mistake from eight yards out.

So dominant were the Blues that a second goal was inevitable and the only surprise was it took another 12 minutes to arrive.

Sterling won a free-kick on the right flank through sheer determination and De Bruyne’s superb whipped ball was powerfully headed home by Fernandinho to double City’s lead.

It was thrilling, high-octane stuff with every player having a part to play.

And this against one of last season’s best Premier League sides who had been made to look pretty ordinary.

Before the break, De Bruyne came within a whisker of adding a third twice, first with a free-kick that struck the top of the bar.

He later side-footed a low shot that was deflected inches wide.

City began the second period in a similar vein with Nolito seeing a goal wiped off for offside and the Aguero wrongly flagged offside when clean through on goal.

But moments after the latter decision, West Ham found a lifeline when Michail Antonio headed home at the far post – much to the chagrin of Guardiola on the touchline.

It hadn’t been coming, but it was an example of how marginal decisions can change the momentum of a game.

City continued to see the majority of the ball, but perhaps the first-half exertions had taken their toll and the pace wasn’t quite as intense and the movement a little less fluid. 

But anything other than a home win would have been a travesty and the Blues kept going with Samir Nasri twice going close.

Silva also cracked a shot against the post before Sterling finished the job in added time with a clever shot from an acute angle.

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