MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s Fernandinho heads to score during the English Premier League football match against West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.—AFP
MANCHESTER: Manchester City, Premier League champions in 2012 and 2014, went to the top of the table with a 3-1 victory over West Ham United on Sunday.
They moved on goal difference above Chelsea and neighbours Manchester United, who have also won their three opening games.
Having scored twice in the first 18 minutes through Raheem Sterling and Brazilian Fernandinho, Pep Guardiola’s side appeared set for an easy three points, only to be pegged back as the London side improved after halftime.
Michail Antonio reduced the deficit in the 58th minute but Sterling scored his second goal in stoppage time from an acute angle.
City’s passing and movement was irresistible in the first half, with Sterling’s sidefooted finish in the seventh minute coming from one of the team’s many flowing moves.
Fernandinho added a second goal with a powerful header from Kevin de Bruyne’s free kick.
It needed Sterling’s second goal, when he rounded the goalkeeper and scored from an acute angle, to settle City’s nerves but Guardiola will be concerned with how his team’s level dropped in the second half.
He might also be worried about the immediate future of striker Sergio Aguero, who appeared to thrown an elbow at Winston Reid in a second-half incident not seen by officials.
City’s next game is against United, after the international break.
Earlier in the day, West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough scrapped their way to a goalless draw in a game of few chances at The Hawthorns.
The point apiece saw newly-promoted Boro climb into joint sixth place with Tottenham Hotspur, with West Brom moving up to tenth in the table.