West Ham 1, Manchester City 1
Sergio Aguero sustained another injury during Manchester City’s disappointing 1-1 draw to West Ham in the London Stadium today.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Argentine striker, 32, was substituted at half time with what City boss Pep Guardiola described as a ‘muscular injury’ as he dropped points against West Ham for the first time in 10 games.
Guardiola added on the Manchester City website that that a scan would reveal more tomorrow and also that the nature of this unusual season’s toll on Premier League squads in European action.
He said: “To play every three days you need the whole squad. To not have the whole squad is more difficult.”
It means once again that City will be without senior strikers as Gabriel Jesus has already been ruled out for an unspecified length of time with City facing a tight schedule with midweek games scheduled for the rest of the year.
And with a trip to Marseilles on the immediate horizon on Tuesday there’s little time to make a new plan for the next few weeks.
Thanks in part to the growing injury list it was the first ime City had named an unchanged line up since October 2017.
The Hammers had taken the lead through Michail Antonio in the first half before Phil Foden replaced Aguero at half time and hit the equaliser.
Antonio’s opener was an 18th minute overhead kick which evaded Ederson after Vladimir Coufal’s cross found him in space.
City complained about a possible deliberate handball by Tomas Soucek in the build-up but VAR ruled it out.
Guardiola’s side had been unable to create many clear chances in the first half but the introduction of Foden for Aguero improved the side, with the England youngster firing in from close range in the 51st minute for his third goal of the season.
Kevin De Bruyne, who sustained an injury on international duty recently, was brought on for the final 22 minutes but he neither he, Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling, or Riyad Mahrez could conjure up enough magic to win the game for injury-hit City.
Pablo Fornals lacked composure for the home side after breaking the offside trap but shot straight at Ederson who had raced off his line when a chip might have defeated the Brazilian.
So despite dominating the game in terms of possession, corners, and shots on goal City fell even further behind in the title race – slipping to 12th in the Premier League with just eight points from their first five games as the Hammers remained above them on goal difference.
GOALS – West Ham 1, Manchester City 1
West Ham 1, Manchester City 0: 18. Michail Antonio meets Vladimir Coufal’s right wing cross with an overhead kick to put the Hammers into the lead.
West Ham 1, Manchester City 1: 51. Phil Foden turned and fired in the equaliser from close range after Joao Cancelo’s cross.
MATCH FACTS – West Ham 1, Manchester City 1
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku, Bowen (Haller 69), Soucek, Rice, Fornals, Antonio (Yarmolenko 52)
West Ham Subs not used: Randolph, Lanzini, Noble, Diop, Fredericks
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker (Zinchenko 78), Dias, Garcia, Cancelo, Bernardo Silva (De Bruyne 68), Rodri, Gundogan, Mahrez, Sterling, Aguero (Foden 46)
Manchester City Subs not used: Steffen, Stones, Torres, Palmer
Referee: Anthony Taylor