Key events
51 min: Pep’s on the phone. It’s eight past nine and he’s as nervous as hell.
49 min: Nunes tries to release Marmoush down the right. Hermansen is on point to snuff out the attack, racing miles out of his box to intercept and clear. The pass from Nunes, overhit, made the keeper’s work a tad easier than it might have otherwise been.
48 min: Silva slips Marmoush into the West Ham box from the right. Marmoush takes a touch to spin around and lash a low shot across the face of goal. Not too far wide left. Hermansen probably had it covered, though.
47 min: Bowen and Castellanos take turns to press hard down the West Ham right flank. Ait-Nouri and Khusanov hold firm, but they’re being made to work. The Hammers up for this after an impressive showing in that first half.
West Ham get the second half started. No changes. More of the same, please, everyone!
Half-time postbag. “I’m relieved to see City have found some shirts to wear. I flicked on the rugby briefly before kick-off and was astonished to see the French team seem to have decided to nick the Manchester City shirts and don them for the evening. Sacre (light) bleu!” – Nick Parish
“I remember a colour-blind caller to the Baker & Kelly 606 phone-in who had been to watch Dundee Utd play Aberdeen on a snow covered pitch. They used the trusty orange football, but as the game went on the snow started to melt away. By the second half the snow was completely gone, but unfortunately, they continued with the orange ball and the caller had to leave the game as all he could see were 22 players randomly running about the green pitch” – Ian Burch
“Nuno is just exactly the man that Arsenal West Ham need now. With Pep out of the picture for the moment, there’s space for the main character energy presence, and who better? Squint your eyes a little bit and it could be Orson Welles in one of his more reflective moods, radiating aura. All the West Ham players have to do is pick up some of that and translate it into goal-currency. It’s true that Welles ended up making adverts for sherry, but that came a lot later” – Charles Antaki
HALF TIME: West Ham United 1-1 Manchester City
Three minutes and 42 seconds passed between the two goals. The xG is 0.54 to 0.3 in West Ham’s favour. And to complete the stat dump, as things stand there’s a nine-point gap at the top …
… while West Ham have extricated themselves from the dropzone at Nottingham Forest’s expense. Big second 45 coming up!
45 min +1: There will be two additional minutes. Nothing happens in the first of them.
45 min: Pep Guardiola is allowed into his team’s dressing room during the break. He’s clearly unhappy at what he’s seen, and leaves his seat in the stand early. He misses a City near miss in doing so, as Haaland bustles his way down the inside-left channel and cuts back for Semenyo, who opens his body and tries to steer a sidefoot into the bottom left. Hermansen is rooted to the spot, and he’s not getting to the ball if it’s on target. It’s an inch or so wide. So close to City regaining the lead.
43 min: Bowen goes long in the hope of releasing Castellanos down the inside-right channel, but Guehi comes across to cover, just in time. West Ham have obviously taken a look at how Real Madrid bothered City during the week, because they’re causing a lot of trouble down what we should now refer to as Valverde’s Flank.
41 min: There’s a bit of an edge developing here, as Diouf catches Nunes. The referee in danger of losing some control. He probably should have dealt with Wan-Bissaka properly.
39 min: Wan-Bissaka slides in late on Guehi, and that’s not a good challenge either. Surely worth a booking, though somehow he gets away with it.
37 min: Here’s something Silva certainly meant to do: extend a leg and catch Fernandes on the shin. Frustrated that his act of genius was cancelled out so quickly? Into the book he goes.
GOAL! West Ham United 1-1 Manchester City (Mavropanos 35)
City’s lead doesn’t last too long! Bowen’s cross from the right is turned behind for a corner. Bowen takes the corner himself, sending it long. At the far stick, Mavropanos crashes a header off the underside of the bar, down and in! No stopping that one. “I tell you what, I guarantee he meant that!” quips Ally McCoist. Perfect comic timing.
33 min: Have to say, when Silva dinked that ball across in real time, my first instinct was: a staggering work of genius. But then on TNT, both Ally McCoist and Joe Cole suggest he was almost certainly looking for Haaland. And then it’s reported that he told City sub Phil Foden that he meant it. Whatever: it looked good.
GOAL! West Ham United 0-1 Manchester City (Silva 31)
Silva in a tight position on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Sent scampering there by Marmoush. He stands one up to the far stick for Haaland … or does he deliberately look to lob Hermansen, because the ball oscillates from right to left and dips into the top-right corner! Outrageous luck, or outrageous skill? You decide!
30 min: A couple of sore ones for West Ham, as Khusanov stands on Bowen’s leg and then Semenyo catches Diouf. Neither challenge appeared deliberate, all accidental, but both will have hurt. Thankfully no serious damage is done.
29 min: Ait-Nouri is seeing an awful lot of the ball down the left. He’s not doing that much with it. Now he slaps his cross straight at Wan-Bissaka.
27 min: Rodri picks up the pace for City with a power dribble down the middle. The ball’s sent wide left to Ait-Nouri, whose deep cross finds Haaland at the far post. But Haaland’s not been his usual confident self in open play recently, and fluffs his header badly. Goal kick. And Hermansen still hasn’t been worked.
25 min: A simple ball down the middle nearly opens up Manchester City. Pablo chases after it, but Khusanov and Silva combine to shut the door just in time. That’s earned West Ham a warm round of applause, though. The first move to get the home fans’ blood pumping.
24 min: This has gone a bit flat. West Ham will be more than happy about this state of affairs. Arsenal will be positively delighted.
22 min: Fernandes’s punishment for conceding the free kick is to take the role of draught excluder in the West Ham wall. But he’s not bothered by the ball, as Marmoush drags the free kick harmlessly wide left.
21 min: … but their patience pays off, and when Marmoush picks it up just to the left of the D, a frustrated Fernandes wrestles him to the ground. A free kick in a very dangerous position.
20 min: City with more of the sterile possession …
18 min: … but they are winning a few corners. O’Reilly the latest to do this with a cross deflected behind. Marmoush takes number five. Bowen heads it clear easily. Hermansen still effectively a bystander.
17 min: City get their ball back. To give fair measure, they don’t really go anywhere either. Hermansen yet to be put to work, despite the away side’s dominance of both possession and territory.
15 min: West Ham get their foot on the ball for the first time this evening. A few passes hither and yon. They go nowhere in particular, but that’s not really the point right now.
13 min: Semenyo and Haaland combine 30 yards from goal, and nearly manage to slip Marmoush free down the right. Not quite. West Ham counter and launch their first attack of the evening, Bowen releasing Wan-Bissaka into space down the right. Wan-Bissaka backs himself in a footrace with Ait-Nouri, but upon knocking the ball past the defender, slips over. That gave the home fans something to shout about, if nothing else.
11 min: Marmoush is booked for a deliberate handball, as Bowen tries to release Castellanos with a long pass down the right flank. Marmoush didn’t bother disguising the cynicism of his action, so doesn’t argue much about the decision.
10 min: Semenyo picks up possession in a pocket of space in the number-ten zone. He slips a ball down the left for Haaland, who earns another City corner. Marmoush hoicks it long. Wan-Bissaka clears this one.
9 min: … and to belabour the point, City have completed 94 passes to West Ham’s nine.
8 min: Silva scampers with determination down the right and lays off to Nunes, whose cross is too deep. Shame, because that was an exciting slalom from City’s captain.
7 min: Manchester City have enjoyed 93 percent possession so far. That doesn’t stop Pep Guardiola getting on the phone to his namesake Lijnders, issuing beneficial advice. You can take the man out of the dugout, but you can’t take the dugout out of the man.
5 min: … Soucek heads it clear. A strong start by City, who have already done a job of quieting the home crowd.
4 min: Rodri makes a nuisance of himself down the left and wins the first corner of the evening. That corner leads to another. West Ham half-clear the second one, but Ait-Nouri dribbles back down the left and wins a third corner of a quick sequence. The corner’s sent in, and …
3 min: City hog the ball during the opening exchanges. A pattern set already? It’s an impressive show of confidence, not just following the Arsenal news, but still feeling bruised after the defeat at Real Madrid midweek as well.
2 min: Those late Arsenal goals will have hit hard in the City dressing room. It’ll be fascinating to see how they respond to that blow, because they’d not be human if they didn’t feel it. They start ten points behind, although this is the first of two games in hand, and Arsenal have to visit the Etihad as well. But that’ll all feel very different if they don’t win tonight.
Manchester City get the ball rolling. A fine Saturday-evening-pints atmosphere!
The teams are out! Pretty bubbles in the air. West Ham in claret and blue, Manchester City in second-choice black. Not sure that’s the best combo for colour-blind fans, but that particular consideration seems to have fallen by the wayside pretty much across the board this season. We’ll be off in a minute.
Pep Guardiola threw a toddler’s tanty at Newcastle in the FA Cup last weekend, screaming and spinning and flinging his coat away and picking up his sixth booking of the season. It was a masterclass in physical comedy, to be fair, a real energy piece, but the performance came at the cost of a two-game suspension (which incidentally doesn’t take in next weekend’s League Cup final) and so he’s missing for this game. And he’s not allowed to be interviewed, either, so here’s his assistant Pep Lijnders, talking to TNT Sports: “A good manager prepares his team in a way the players are quite independent … the players can take responsibility … [Guardiola] plans so well … we will be in contact anyway … he will be in my ears a lot! … we are not thinking about the next Real Madrid game … the Premier League is so exciting … we are in a place we can do something … we need to be ready and focused to show who we are.”
Nuno Espírito Santo speaks to TNT Sports. “I see this as a big challenge for us … a very tough opponent … we are at home … we have been good at home … we expect a very tough match but we are ready to compete … the boys are committed … they are aware of the situation … and the effort they have to make … [Crysencio Summerville] is a player we cannot replace … we have to find solutions … let’s see if it works out today!”
FULL TIME at the Emirates: Arsenal 2-0 Everton. Max Dowman, 16, becomes both Arsenal and the Premier League’s youngest goalscorer in history with the last kick of the game! A breakaway effort, Jordan Pickford having come up for a last-gasp corner. That’s a goal, following a cross that led to a goal, from Dowman in 22-minute cameo! He’s 16!
“You wouldn’t say it was convincing,” Sky co-commentator Alan Smith had said moments before that glorious cherry on the cake. But three points are three points are three points, especially at this stage of the season. And in any case, nobody will now be thinking about the first 88 minutes after the celebratory scenes that followed Dowman’s historic moment. Mikel Arteta running around in huge gleeful circles. Arsenal keep their hands on the title-race tiller.
“If we drop points it will be over,” Pep Guardiola suggested the other day. He’ll feel that doubly so now. In triplicate, perhaps. By a multiple of 16?
A pre-match sickener for Manchester City: Arsenal score what is surely an 89th-minute winner against Everton! Jordan Pickford flapping wildly at a Max Dowman cross, Viktor Gyokeres tapping home! Six additional minutes between the Gunners and a ten-point lead at the top! Tim de Lisle has the latest.
Jarrod Bowen has a quick word with TNT Sports on the importance of momentum. “Over the last few weeks … FA Cup games are important … to have a run to change our season … league games, going to Fulham and winning 1-0 … sometimes you need to win away, a little bit ugly, which we haven’t done enough this season … to show we have that type of performance … a cup run is always something for us, and these fans … tonight is going to be difficult, we know that, but we have to step up … the manager coming in has been a massive help … the players we bought in January … how we’re set up … attacking … better defending … conceding two, three goals a game it’s nigh-on impossible … so winning 1-0 away is massive … the team spirit is so much better … you can see it in the performances on the pitch … against Man City you almost have to be perfect … but we’re in a moment … the fans will be up for it and there’s almost nothing to lose … we want to get out of that bottom three … we’re in a good place … the fans can see us giving everything … we have to keep fighting … that’s the only way it’s going to change.”
Bowen speaking there so well, with clarity and passion. West Ham fans will be delighted to hear what he says, and how he says it. Even if tonight doesn’t go well for them against title-chasing City, that’s got to give them hope for the rest of the relegation run-in.
West Ham make two changes to the side that won 1-0 at Fulham ten days ago. Konstantinos Mavropanos and Pablo come in for Callum Wilson, who drops to the bench, and the injured Crysencio Summerville.
Manchester City make three changes following their 3-0 capitulation at Real Madrid during the week. Omar Marmoush, Matheus Nunes and Rayan Aït-Nouri replace Jérémy Doku and Rúben Dias, who drop to the bench, and Savinho, who like John Stones is unfit and misses out altogether.
The teams
West Ham United: Hermansen, Mavropanos, Disasi, Todibo, Wan-Bissaka, Soucek, Fernandes, Diouf, Bowen, Pablo, Castellanos.
Subs: Areola, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Wilson, Traore, Magassa, Potts, Kante, Mayers.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, Ait-Nouri, Rodri, Semenyo, Silva, O’Reilly, Marmoush, Haaland.
Subs: Trafford, Dias, Reijnders, Ake, Kovacic, Cherki, Doku, Gonzalez, Foden.
Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: Jarred Gillett
Preamble
Relegation-threatened West Ham desperately need the points; title-chasing Manchester City desperately need the points. All this yearning could lead to a highly entertaining to-and-fro, or a dramatic denouement, or a one-sided rout, or a big fat nothingburger. We start finding out what’s what at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
