Key events
81 min: Kevin De Bruyne wins what seems like Manchester City’s 341st corner, his cross being blocked out of play by Max Kilman. Nothing comes of this one either.
79 min: After pouncing on a ricochet off the shins of Kovacic, Soucek takes an age to sort his feet out near the penalty spot before getting off a fairly weak shot that skitters harmlessly wide.
78 min: Nothing comes of the City corner, which is taken by De Bruyne and cleared by Bowen. Coufal gallops upfield and whips a cross to the near post but it’s cleared.
76 min: City win a corner when Kilman steps in to intercept a ball squared across the face of goal by Rico Lewis. West Ham substitution: Thomas Soucek on for Edson Alvarez.
76 min: Guido Rodriguez is booked for a quite blatant trip on Kovacic. A “technical” foul, as it is known in the trade.
74 min: Bowen tries to ferret his way up the right touchline with the ball at his feet but runs out of road and is dispossessed by Gvardiol near the halfway line.
73 min: City substitution: Jack Grealish is replaced by Matheus Cunha after putting in a decent shift.
71 min: The corner is taken and the ball finds the top of Max Kilman’s head. Over the bar. It was a half-chance but the defender seemed to mistime his leap.
70 min: Kudus wins a corner for West Ham but there’ll be a double-substitution before it’s taken. Vladimir Coufal and Niclas Fullkrug come on for Emerson and Antonio.
69 min: City corner. Kevin De Bruyne plays it short-ish to Grealish, advances towards the penalty area and picks up the return pass. Completely unopposed, he lofts the ball towards Ruben Dias at the far post but the Portuguese defender is unable to trouble Lukasz Fabianski and cancel out his first-half own goal.
66 min: Ilkay Gundogan ids being readied for battle and is subjected to a long Pep-talk on the touchline. The City boss runs through his full repertoire of Basil Fawlty-esque gesticulations before sending Gundogan on to replace Jeremy Doku.
62 min: West Ham are visibly growing in confidence with each passing minute, a spectacle one suspects Pep Guardiola won’t be enjoying one bit. On a day when tickets for the Oasis reunino tour went on sale, will one of their celebrity fans be left looking back in anger on this game? Play pauses when Doku goes to ground again, this time felled by Max Kilman, whose challenge earns him a booking.
61 min: Emerson is booked for tripping Jeremy Doku as the City winger attempted to jink inside him near the halfway line.
59 min: Bowen takes on and beats Gvardiol as he cuts in from the right before playing the ball to the feet of Antonio at the near post. With Akanji all over him, the striker wins a corner for his team. It’s taken and the ball is cleared as far as Guido Rodriguez, whose low shot from distance fizzes well wide of the left upright.
57 min: Jarrod Bowen sends a diagonal cross towards the far post that’s just a little too high for Kudus to reach. This is impressive from a West Ham side who looked completely beaten and resigned to their fate as recently as five minutes ago.
55 min: City slow the game down having survived that scare but Jarrod Bowen pounces on a poor touch from Gvardiol to drag his side upfield again.
52 min: Wow! West Ham break upfield at the speed of light after Paqueta had cleared a Gvardiol ball into the six yard box. After receiving a pass from Kudus, Bowen gallops up the inside right with the ball at his feet before playing the return pass to the Ghanaian. Kudus has to stretch to bring it under control but finally unleashes a venmous shot that smashes off the left upright. That was so close to an equaliser.
50 min: City continue to hog the ball, passing and probing patiently on the edge of the final third under little or no pressure from West Ham’s players.
49 min: Jack Grealish wins a corner for City. Kevin De Bruyne’s delivery bounces neart the edge of the six-yard box, catching Bernardo Silva unawares. He gets his head to the rising ball but sends it over the bar.
48 min: Ederson pings an inch-perfect pass on to the chest of Lewis out by the right touchline and City move the ball forward again. An attempted Akanji delivery into the West Ham penalty area is blocked by Lucas Paqueta.
46 min: Yup, seconds after kick-off, Rico Lewis steals the ball from Mohammed Kudus out by the touchline near the halfway line.
Second half: West Ham 1-2 Man City
46 min: Play resumes with West Ham on the ball. On the evidence of their first half performance, one suspects they won’t keep it for long.
They are very, very lucky to be only one goal in arrears and have changed their goalkeeper. Lukasz Fabianski is on for Areola, who must have picked up an injury in the first half.
West Ham 1-2 Manchester City
Half-time: West Ham started brightly and had Manchester City under the cosh for all of three minutes before their visitors started bending control of the game to their collective will.
A mistake from Lucas Paqueta allowed Erling Haaland to open the scoring for City, only for their lead to be cancelled out by an unfortunate and completely unnecessary Ruben Dias own goal. It was one-way traffic after that, with City spurning several good chances before Erling Haaland bagged his second to restore his side’s lead.
City lead by the odd goal in three but should be much further ahead. Some of their meticulously choreographed build-up play has been breathtaking, even if their almost total dominance has been a little dull.
45+2 min: West Ham show more signs of life but a Jarrod Bowen seven-iron from deep towards the City penalty area is headed clear by Dias. That’s it for the first half.
45+1 min: West Ham attack, with Kudus running on to a crossfield diagonal. He cuts inside, running at a backpedalling Rico Lewis before shooting across the face of goal and several yards wide of the far post.
45 min: City win a free-kick just outside the penalty area, a little to the right of the D. Kevin De Bruyne takes it and skims his effort over the bar and on to the roof of the net.
43 min: A Jeremy Doku pull-back is cut out by Emerson as City go on the attack again. Kevin De Bruyne is booked for an injudicious lunge on Michail Antonio after trying to recover a ball he’d just gifted to the West Ham striker with a poor first touch.
41 min: City corner. Kevin De Bruyne raises both arms and sends the ball towards the penalty spot, where Ruben Dias nods it goalwards with a scuffed downward header. It’s hacked clear by a defender.
40 min: “If this were a Battle of the Bands, I’d take Iron Maiden over Oasis any day of the week, even if the Irons are all in their 60s,” writes Joe Pearson. “I mean, Heavy Metal conquers lame Britpop, right? Sadly, it’s a football match, and City are the real Trooper here.”
37 min: Manchester City continue to pile on the pain, hogging the ball and leaving the West Ham’s players to chase shadows. Haaland spots a run from Lewis and threads the ball into his path but the young full-back fires over the bar. It’s not so much men against boys as men against training cones.
35 min: De Bruyne plays the ball wide to Grealish, who plays it back inside and then darts forward to receive the return pass. Mavropanos and Wan-bissaka dive in to intercept and one of them concedes a corner. West Ham clear and break upfield with Michail Antonio on the ball.
32 min: West Ham’s bold strategy of not running, pressing or marking certainly didn’t pay off there. Haaland was given all the time in the world and the freedom of the London Stadium to pick his spot and fire an absolute thunderbolt past Areola. He’s on course for back-to-back hat-tricks and West Ham’s particularly dismal record against City-under-Pep looks set to continue.
GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Man City (Haaland 30)
City lead again! With Manchester City pin ging the ball around the edge of the City penalty area, Rico Lewis rolls it into the path of Erling Halland. He steps inside Emerson and spanks an unstoppable shot past Areola. That’s his 69th goal in 69 Premier League appearances.