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October 26, 2014

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Champ City suffers Hammer blow

WEST Ham United maintained its impressive start to the season when it beat champion Manchester City 2-1 at Upton Park in London yesterday to consolidate its place in the top four of the English Premier League.

Manager Sam Allardyce described it as “a famous win” after Hammers beat City for the first time in five years for their third successive victory.

The result was a blow for City which could be eight points behind leader Chelsea if Jose Mourinho’s men win at Manchester United today.

The Hammers went ahead in the 21st minute when French midfielder Morgan Amalfitano was left unmarked at the far post and reacted quickest to a low, spinning cross from Enner Valencia to stab the ball in from close range with goalkeeper Joe Hart stranded.

They doubled their lead in the 75th when Diafra Sakho became the first West Ham player to score in six successive Premier League matches.

The Senegal striker Sakho, signed during the close season for 4.5 million pounds (US$7.2 million) from Metz, rose to head powerfully at the goal, and although Hart scooped the ball clear, the goal decision review system proved it had crossed the line and the score stood.

But within two minutes Manchester City pulled one back with a superb individual strike from David Silva who jinked his way through the West Ham defense to curl home past goalkeeper Adrian.

City should have scored before then when Sergio Aguero hit the bar from close range after 61 minutes and Yaya Toure’s follow-up was saved by Adrian. Toure hit the bar again a minute before Sakho put the Hammers 2-0 up.

Allardyce told BT Sport: “It wasn’t a lucky victory by any stretch of the imagination today because our commitment and desire to play against the big boys and the present league champions was there for all to see.

“We knew we were going to have less possession than City today but we knew that we had to be effective with the possession we had and we were certainly that.

“After David Silva scored their outstanding goal, for me it was about the squad’s determination and make sure (of) what is a famous victory for us.”

City let a 2-0 lead slip for a 2-2 draw at CSKA Moscow in the Champions League last Tuesday but although Silva revived its hopes yesterday, the team itself could not fight back from two goals down to save a point and ended up losing in the league for the first time since August 30, when it lost to Stoke City.

Interestingly, the meetings between the two sides last season were an embarrassing mismatch with City winning each of the four meetings, including the two-legged League Cup semifinal, running up an aggregate score of 14-1.

City coach Manuel Pellegrini said: “West Ham played very well, especially in the first half and they did not allow us to move the ball but we were very unlucky because we had a lot of chances.”

“I don’t think it was a fault of our team for the performance in the first half, it was more about the intensity of West Ham and you must credit them for that.

“We are just starting the season, we have 80 points left to play for. So it is early.

“We will continue fighting because there is no title being handed out at the moment.”

The defeat left City on 17 points from nine matches, five points behind Chelsea before its game today. West Ham remained fourth on 16 points from its opening nine games.




 

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