EPL 2016/17: West Ham 0-4 Manchester City, 5 Talking Points
A resurgent Manchester City side thrashed West Ham United 4-0 at the London Stadium in a brilliant display of attacking football in the first half. The Hammers, who recently sold their star player Dimitri Payet to Marseille after a lengthy and controversial saga had no answer to City’s persistent attacks and free-flowing play.
The game was a largely one-sided affair with City’s youngsters dazzling in the final third as the hosts simply had no answer to the display of pace and power from Pep Guardiola’s men. Here are the five biggest talking points from the game.
#1 Welcome to Premier League Gabriel Jesus
Gabriel Jesus might be just 19-years-old and about 5 ft 9 inches tall, but City saw the potential in the forward and signed him out of obscurity after just one season with Palmeiras in Brazil. He made his debut in City’s 2-2 draw against Spurs, coming on in the 82nd minute and lit up the pitch immediately. He had then gone on to score in the FA cup against Crystal Palace.
But tonight he was handed his first start in the Premier League playing as a lone striker against a proper English defence in West Ham United and he did not disappoint. He made an intelligent run from the half-line after Kevin De Bruyne got the ball from a wayward pass and then effortlessly teed up the Belgian for the game’s opener with a perfectly weighted simple first-time pass.
It was a brilliant flowing counter attack after City got the ball back. However, Jesus was not done there, he got his goal on another counter-attack after Sane won the ball back and played Raheem Sterling through. The Englishman set up Gabriel Jesus for a tap-in and capped a good display from the youngster in his first full 45 minutes in the Premier League.
He caused quite a few problems for West Ham all game with his play and movement and is definitely a youngster with a lot of potential to go right to the top.