Man City 3-0 West Ham: Player ratings as Haaland breaks Premier League scoring record
By Tom Gott
Erling Haaland broke the Premier League's all-time season scoring record on Wednesday night as Manchester City saw off West Ham 3-0 at the Etihad.
Nathan Ake headed the champions-elect ahead shortly after half-time before the Norwegian machine lobbed Lukasz Fabianski to seure yet another piece of history.
The visitors were hit late by a sickness bug which saw Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Nayef Aguerd all sent home from Manchester earlier in the day, but West Ham remained resolute and forced City to work incredibly hard for their points.
Predictably, City dominated the early possession and came closest inside ten minutes as Riyad Mahrez's low drive wasn't spotted until late by Fabianski, who got down well to turn the ball away.
Haaland later headed wide from a tight angle, with City finding it hard to get through West Ham's rigid shape.
The Hammers had Fabianski's left post to thank on the half-hour mark as Rodri's effort beat the goalkeeper but bounced back off the woodwork and trickled agonisingly across the box and away as West Ham continued to frustrate their hosts.
However, City needed just four minutes to take the lead in the second half. Mahrez's free-kick was met at the far post by Ake, who steered his header beyond Fabianski.
The tempo of the game didn't really change after the goal and it took City nearly 20 minutes to carve out another real opportunity. Julian Alvarez attempted to replicate his screamer from the Fulham game but didn't have the power to beat Fabianski.
There was no stopping Haaland, however, as the Norwegian dinked home his 35th goal of the campaign to break the Premier League's all-time scoring record.
With the floodgates now opened, Phil Foden volleyed home a third with five minutes to go, benefitting from a deflection from Emerson to cap off a famous night for City.
Man City player ratings (3-2-4-1)
GK: Stefan Ortega - 6/10 - Largely a spectator.
CB: Kyle Walker - 5/10 - Underwhelming in possession and failed to contribute to City's efforts to break West Ham down.
CB: Ruben Dias - 6/10 - A shaky start but didn't really need to push himself too hard.
CB: Nathan Ake - 8/10 - Regularly got involved in attack to try and make something happen and took his goal very well.
DM: John Stones - 6/10 - Had plenty of chances to run into the box but largely played the anchor role.
DM: Rodri - 7/10 - Involved in a whole lot going forward and benefited from the extra freedom afforded to him by Stones.
RM: Riyad Mahrez - 6/10 - Didn't do much on the ball but City were focused on the opposite wing anyway, so the opportunities were limited. Made a telling impact with the assist for Ake's opener.
CM: Julian Alvarez - 6/10 - Some excellent movement to try and pull West Ham apart, but his limited passing abilities were on show in this role.
CM: Bernardo Silva - 5/10 - Sent in plenty of aimless crosses which West Ham's defenders hoovered up.
LM: Jack Grealish - 7/10 - The more dangerous of City's wingers, Grealish bagged an assist for Haaland's record-breaking strike.
ST: Erling Haaland - 7/10 - Wasn't given the space or the service needed to get into his groove but made the most of the one opportunity he did find.
Substitutes
Phil Foden (77' for Alvarez) - 7/10
Manuel Akanji (77' for Ake) - 6/10
Kalvin Phillips (90' for Rodri) - N/A
Manager
Pep Guardiola - 6/10 - Looked like he might be regretting his team selection after an uncomfortable first 45 minutes, but a half-time team talk sorted things out.
West Ham player ratings (4-2-3-1)
GK: Lukasz Fabianski - 6/10 - Some solid saves as City threatened to get themselves on top in the first half.
RB: Vladimir Coufal - 5/10 - Had plenty of work to do up against Grealish and didn't come out on top. Injured himself making a poor cross on the hour mark.
CB: Thilo Kehrer - 6/10 - Sat deep to encourage crosses which he gobbled up gleefully. A composed, effective performance.
CB: Angelo Ogbonna - 6/10 - An outstanding performance in the first half but was caught out by Ake for the opening goal. Watched things go disappointingly downhill after the break.
LB: Aaron Cresswell - 6/10 - Didn't really have that much to do as City focused on the opposite wing.
DM: Lucas Paqueta - 6/10 - Selfless and disciplined as he focused more on the defensive side of things.
DM: Flynn Downes - 5/10 - Put in a real energetic shift to try and keep tabs on both Rodri and Stones. Couldn't keep up as the clock ticked on.
RM: Jarrod Bowen - 5/10 - Limited opportunities in attack but instead worked hard defensively to help out against Grealish.
AM: Pablo Fornals - 5/10 - Worked hard but his end product left a whole lot to be desired.
LM: Emerson - 5/10 - Didn't really do much at either end of the field.
ST: Michail Antonio - 5/10 - Can't fault the work rate but Antonio was unsurprisingly starved of service. Did about as much as he could.
Substitutes
Ben Johnson (62' for Coufal) - 5/10
Danny Ings (67' for Antonio) - 5/10
Said Benrahma (79' for Bowen) - 5/10
Manager
David Moyes - 5/10 - Set West Ham up superbly in the first half but just couldn't keep it going.