Michail Antonio scored a wonderful goal to earn his side a hard-earned 1-1 draw against Manchester City, who have now won once in four Premier League games.
Antonio’s spectacular acrobatic overhead volley from Vladimir Coufal’s cross put the Hammers ahead at London Stadium – and provided another twist in this unpredictable top-flight season.
But substitute Phil Foden equalised for City six minutes after coming on at the start of the second half, producing a really good turn to score following Joao Cancelo’s pass.
City dominated possession and sent on Kevin de Bruyne, who had missed the previous two games through injury, but could not find a winner and remain anchored in the bottom half of the table after five games.
Hard-working West Ham building momentum
Having lost their opening two games, West Ham have taken eight points from their past four matches, and can add a well-earned point against City to impressive wins over Leicester and Wolves.
Last Sunday, it was Manuel Lanzini who came up with a brilliant goal as the Hammers battled back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Tottenham.
Lanzini’s heroics were not enough to earn him a starting place as Antonio produced a wonder goal, beating Ruben Dias to power an overhead kick beyond Ederson and give David Moyes’ side a lead against the run of the play.
City complained there was a handball in the build-up by Tomas Soucek, which VAR checked. The goal would have been ruled out if Soucek, who had kept the ball in play before passing for Coufal to set up Antonio, had been judged to have deliberately handled – but VAR ruled that was not the case.
West Ham worked hard but had to dig deep to secure a first point against City since January 2016.
Keeper Lukasz Fabianski produced two excellent saves to keep out substitute De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez as City finished strongly.
In the end it was an impressive point for West Ham, who had lost their previous eight games against City by an aggregate score of 25-3.
