West Ham maintained its strong form and stunned Manchester City with a 2-1 victory on Saturday, inflicting a second loss in the champion’s Premier League title defence.
Morgan Amalfitano opened the scoring for West Ham with a 22nd minute tap-in following a low pass into the box from Enner Valencia.
Diafra Sakho scored his seventh goal in seven games to double West Ham’s lead in the 75th, after connecting with a cross from Aaron Cresswell.
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Goal-line technology showed that it was valid, after City goalkeeper Joe Hart had initially appeared to have clawed the header off the line.
David Silva magnificently halved West Ham’s lead two minutes later, darting past four tackles and slotting expertly past Adrian. After the goal, a late surge from City wasn’t enough and the home fans at Upton Park erupted into jubilation at the final whistle.
“This is a famous victory for us and one that we will treasure for a long, long time,” West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said.
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Dictating the pace West Ham’s midfield took a hold of the game early on. Man of the match Alex Song, on a season—long loan from Barcelona, dictated the pace in the centre of midfield, outplaying a subdued Yaya Toure and City’s other stars. “Every man went out there, gave it their all, deserved the victory that I don’t think too many people expected,” Allardyce said.
West Ham at times rode its luck in the second half with City’s in-form striker Sergio Aguero looking especially dangerous.
“West Ham played very well and with a very high intensity,” City manager Manuel Pellegrini said after the match. “We had a lot of chances to score, but it is difficult to win if you don’t take them. We were very unlucky in the second half. We hit the post and went just wide with another.”
The Hammers are now just a point behind City.
“I am so pleased by the amount of chances we created today...but we have to keep our feet on the ground and not get too carried away with this result,” Allardyce said.
The result means City loses the opportunity to gain ground on Premier League leader Chelsea, which plays against Manchester United on Sunday.
City was also anxious to move on from yet another midweek Champions League disappointment following the 2-2 draw at CSKA Moscow.
With the future of its European campaign now in doubt, Pellegrini was looking for an immediate response as it resumed its defence of its Premier League title.
The results:
West Ham 2 (Amalfitano 21, Sakho 75) bt Manchester City 1 (Silva 77); Liverpool 0 drew with Hull 0; Southampton 1 (Mane 33) bt Stoke 0; Sunderland 0 lost to Arsenal 2 (Sanchez 30, 90); West Brom 2 (Anichebe 51, Berahino 90-pen) drew with Crystal Palace 2 (Hangeland 16, Jedinak 45-pen).