City now is ahead of United and Chelsea on goal difference – and Guardiola said there plenty more to come.
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That was the culmination of a frantic attacking opening from City and, while the goal perhaps took some of the intensity out of the home side’s play, it only seemed a matter of when – not if – they would score again. We deserved to win by more goals but the performance was good.
A notable feature of Guardiola’s City side, additional to the fine passing, has been the impressive work rate of his players, and it was evident at various times in Sterling’s display here.
City took charge of the game very quickly as a rejuvenated Raheem Sterling opened the scoring after Nolito cut back and laid a handsome cross into the box.
The only real negative for City was Sergio Aguero’s apparent elbow on Winston Reid in the second half that went unpunished at the time but could lead to retrospective action and a ban ruling the striker out of the derby clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford that comes after the global break.
The West Ham manager, Slaven Bilic, was not inclined to fuel to debate. “We are going to play with 11”. “But we are just one and a half, two months here”.
“They won but I think the way they played in the first half and second half was totally different”.
“We have to make an wonderful performance to win at Old Trafford”.
“At half-time I didn’t ask my team to turn the game around, just to show their qualities and enthusiasm and we did that”. We need Ilkay [Gundogan] and Sane because these guys who played today can not play every game.
“I am enjoying it because we have a lot of possession and I have more of the ball than in the full back positions”.
“From the first training session, the friendlies and the official games I have no complaints about the attitude and behaviour of the squad”.
In an open letter released on social media, he said: “I have a new path to take”.
“I did nothing, I try to do the best for all the players”, he told a news conference.
“I always respect the style of play every manager has”.
Guardiola added: “When you see how many chances we created, they scored with their first chance”.
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Pep Guardiola’s men produced a first half scintillating performance which set them on their way to victory, however Aguero’s moment of madness is the key talking point. “But the second half you could see the weakness in their mentality perhaps, and that saw them succumb a little bit to West Ham’s impetus”.
