Erling Haaland secured back-to-back hat-tricks as Manchester City beat West Ham United 3-1 in the Premier League, taking the Citizens to an 18th consecutive unbeaten head-to-heads against the Hammers.
Many will have expected West Ham to sit back but Julen Lopetegui’s men flew out in the early stages with a venomous Jarrod Bowen strike stinging Ederson’s palms.
Man City soon turned the match in their favour, though, as Haaland uncharacteristically headed over before refinding his clinical edge in the 10th minute to punish Lucas Paquetá’s poor touch by collecting Bernardo Silva’s through ball and coolly finishing.
The chances kept coming and Alphonse Areola had to react quickly to tip over an intelligent strike from Kevin De Bruyne, who then struck the woodwork.
It had been a period of complete Man City domination but the Hammers still got back on level terms, as Bowen squared up Joško Gvardiol and fizzed a ball across the box that Rúben Dias diverted into his own net. That turned out to be a minor setback for the visitors, as intricate play around West Ham’s box on the half-hour mark culminated in Haaland receiving Rico Lewis’ pass and smashing the ball past Areola.
Haaland then returned the favour by teeing up Rico Lewis, although the right-back couldn’t find the target with his effort.
Łukasz Fabiański replaced Areola at halftime to make his 200th Hammers appearance but it was Ederson who had an early scare in the second period, as a blistering break ended in Mohammed Kudus firing against the post. That moment renewed hope for the hosts and intelligent defending from Manuel Akanji was required to deny Michail Antonio a clear sight of goal.
There were opportunities for both sides, but Dias poked his effort wide and Max Kilman headed off-target.
Tomáš Souček came closest to an equaliser moments after emerging from the bench but his attempt trickled wide.
Any hope was then relinquished when Haaland raced onto Matheus Nunes’ through ball and dinked the ball home for his eighth PL hat-trick, as Man City took their unbeaten run in competitive away matches to 19 games – a run that stretches back to October 2023. In contrast, West Ham have now lost both of their home PL matches this term.
