West Ham 1-3 Manchester City: Performance Analysis

Manchester City’s Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero celebrates scoring his goal during an English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Manchester City at Upton Park.

A Sergio Aguero-inspired Manchester City proved to be too much for a poor West Ham United side as the Argentine netted twice and set up the third in a routine win.

The striker latched onto Fernandinho’s pass to score the first and headed home the second before a sensational Ricardo Vaz Te overhead kick pulled a goal back for the Hammers. But Aguero was on hand once again as his backheel enabled David Silva to curl home the third and seal all three points.

Key Stats

The stats merely serve to highlight just how dominant Manuel Pellegrini’s side were against a poor West Ham side. The Citizens achieved 59% of the possession and completed 85% of their passes, highlighting their dominance. The tackle success rate (95%) also reflects the midfield battle which was won by Fernandinho and Yaya Toure.

On the whole, West Ham’s statistics compare favourably to City’s, but that fails to tell the true story of the match – one where the visitors were utterly dominant for much of the game.

Man of the Match

This couldn’t have gone to any other player. Aguero was in irresistible form as he plundered a brace against a Hammers defence that just couldn’t quite cope with the diminutive Argentine’s movement, ending up with a Squawka Performance Score of 89 – a quite incredible score.

Aguero’s superb display was underpinned by two goals and an assist although he only completed 60% of his passes – a classic case of a striker doing very little but contributing where and when it counts.

Performance Score

Manchester City burst out of the blocks in terms of Squawka’s Performance Score and never looked back as they dominated a poor West Ham side for 90 minutes. The key moment was Aguero’s opening goal which gave City a boost in their score and condemned West Ham to an overall score of -69.

Aguero’s second gave City a second boost to their performance score and secured all three points for the visitors as they continue to chase league leaders Arsenal. City suffered a setback when Vaz Te grabbed a goal back, but Aguero popped up yet again to set up Silva for the third.

Key Observations

A fluid City attack was too much for the Hammers defence and Aguero may take the plaudits but the battle was won in midfield as the powerful duo of Yaya Toure and Fernandinho simply dominated their opponents. The midfielders collected a combined performance score of 67 with the Brazilian providing the assist for the first goal.

The Hammers failed to organise their set-piece defence effectively with Nolan and Vaz Te both spotting Aguero on his own but failed to act as the Argentine headed home the second goal of the evening.

David Silva quietly silently played his role too, the Spaniard made 6 key passes, more than any player for either side.

??Football graphics and stats from Squawka?