Hammer blow
West Ham 1 Man City 4: Champions push Hammers deeper into relegation battle after thumping win at the London Stadium
David Moyes' men remain just three points above 18th-placed Southampton after second-half capitulation at home
THERE is Manchester City. And then there is the rest.
Pep Guardiola’s players, beating West Ham with embarrassing ease, are on for record points and the most number of goals in the Premier League.
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They will get them.
Chelsea hold the total for the record number of points, finishing Jose Mourinho’s first season in English football in 2005 with 95.
Beating West Ham, this basket case of a football club, turned out to be a doddle for the champions.
The Hammers, with the exception of Aaron Creswell’s 42nd minute free-kick, were terrible.
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INTERACTIVE STATS - CLICK on the categories to find out how the teams fared
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West Ham score unfortunate own goal, as ball deflects of Declan Rice and Pablo Zabaleta before hitting the net
City always win here, sticking five past them in the FA Cup and four in the Premier League last season.
This could easily have been so many more.
In the end City settled on four, with goals from Leroy Sane, a comical second scored by West Ham defender Declan Rice, a razor sharp third from Gabriel Jesus and a fourth from Fernandiho.
It was training ground stuff, finishing off moves whenever the mood took these players.
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INTERACTIVE STATS – CLICK on a player’s number below to see their stats
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The champions, easing into this game, were 2-0 up inside the opening 27 minutes.
Raheem Sterling was outstanding throughout.
He set up the first, teasing the ball into Sane at the start of the move that led to City’s opening goal.
Sane created the chance, creating enough wriggle room on the edge of the area to get a shot away.
It was helped on with a deflection from Patrice Evra, beating Adrian to give City the lead.
The next goal, scored after 27 minutes, was a gift.
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It was an own goal, tapped into an empty net by the confused boot of West Ham defender Declan Rice.
Adrian had left his station, flying out of goal to intercept Sterling as he made his way towards goal.
Kevin de Bruyne, lurking out on the right, picked up the scraps and his drilled effort across the face of goal fell at the feet of Rice.
West Ham’s inexperienced defender did the rest.
This sport is coming too easy to City now, with the opposition sitting back and allowing them to swarm forward at will.
They were rudely interrupted 43 minutes in when Aaron Creswell scored a peachy free-kick from outside the area.
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Ederson could not get near it, beaten by the deceptive pace and the bend when West Ham’s full-back took a free swing at it.
City, temporarily put off their stride pattern, responded straight after the break.
Gabriel Jesus started and finished the move that led to City’s third after 53 minutes.
Sterling was out on the right, timing his run to perfection and waiting for the momentum to carry Jesus into the area.
When he got there Sterling found him, taking four West Ham players out of the game to leave Jesus free inside the area.
He scored, of course he did.
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It will not matter that a few minutes later Sterling, the obvious man of the match, should have had a penalty when Creswell upended him.
Neil Swarbrick, you have to do better there, fella.
Sterling was unfazed, teeing up Kevin de Bruyne with an inviting cut back that smashed the outside of the posts behind Adrian’s goal.
City had not finished.
They scored a fourth when Sterling, with his third assist of this ludicrously one-sided fixture, found Fernandinho.
That was after 64 minutes, a carbon copy of the Jesus finish ten minutes earlier.
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It had these Hammers fans streaming for the exits, with the top tier of these stands emptying by the minute.
They are fed up with this. Again.
So is Andy Carroll, shaking his head for long enough for the entire stadium to be made aware of his disgust when David Moyes made a triple substitution.
Carroll was not one of them.
He was better off out of it, leaving these miserable Hammers to it as they slid to another defeat at the hands of City.
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They will be getting worried now, three points off the drop with three to play in the Premier League.
The Hammers could not wait to get this game out of the way.
They were outclassed here, with the fans getting on their case when City’s players started to toy with them.
Things are bad here.
Nobody has the solution, the magic potion to put things right at this football club.
They were left spellbound by City, struggling to keep pace with Pep’s side as they chase some Premier League records.
Soon enough, they will get them.
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