14 hours ago
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Right at the death, Marc Guéhi skied over with the West Ham goal at his mercy. It was the chance. The Manchester City players collapsed, fearing any hope of reeling Arsenal in had disappeared into thin air, and there were probably a fair few Tottenham and Nottingham Forest fans cursing Guéhi’s lack of composure in front of goal.
This was a big night at both ends of the Premier League table. West Ham were dogged, defiant and unflinching in their refusal to give up on the point that lifted them out of the bottom three for the first time since November. They will believe, even though they will be back in the relegation zone if Forest pick up at least a point at home to Fulham on Sunday. Nuno Espírito Santo has orchestrated quite the revival. This draw made it two defeats in nine league games for West Ham and, while they still have the toughest run-in out of anyone scrapping for survival, they will take immense encouragement from how they neutralised City’s attack with an exhibition of classic Nunoball.
City were short of ideas before raising the tempo during a desperate finale. Erling Haaland’s aim was awry and although a defensive West Ham were limited to one shot, the problem for Pep Guardiola is the one that was allowed was the Konstantinos Mavropanos header that cancelled out a strange goal from Bernardo Silva and left Arsenal nine points clear in first place.
With Gianluigi Donnarumma at fault for the equaliser, this was City again failing to take care of the details. After twice squandering the lead against Forest in their previous league game, a similar lapse at the London Stadium was a reminder that this is a long way from being one of the great Guardiola sides. Arsenal, of course, will still fear a trademark City comeback from here, not least because the hunters still have a game in hand. For all that Arsenal will fret until the job is done, though, Guardiola will know there will be a breathless sprint for the finish if his side continue to play with such a lack of identity, cohesion and belief.
Putting it bluntly, this is not the City of old. There is enviable talent at Guardiola’s disposal but something is missing. Haaland has four goals in his last 18 appearances in all competitions and there is a wider sense of a team in transition. Is there an obvious replacement for Kevin De Bruyne in the creative department? Phil Foden was a late substitute. Rayan Cherki offered hope after coming on but he is still adjusting to the league. Guardiola hinted at the challenges of integrating new players. He accepted that City are not ruthless enough. They have also become less adept at squeezing opponents after going ahead, although Guardiola was still not minded to hand the trophy to Arsenal.
“It is more complicated but we want to be there,” the City manager said. He pointed out that Arsenal still have to visit the Etihad Stadium next month. He insisted that City will try to mount a fightback from 3-0 down when they host Real Madrid in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie on Tuesday. Next weekend’s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal will be a chance to land a psychological blow on Mikel Arteta’s side.
Here, though, the impact of Arsenal’s late show against Everton in the earlier kick-off was felt by City. Guardiola smiled and said he was having a beer when those two late goals went in at the Emirates Stadium. With the chance to close the gap gone, though, there was no fizz to City’s football. They were flat despite dominating possession and struggled to trouble West Ham’s deep back five.
With Crysencio Summerville missing with a calf injury, West Ham found it difficult to create counterattacking opportunities for Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos. Yet City were ineffective. Short of width and too focused on control, they did not get behind West Ham. Antoine Semenyo and Omar MMarmoush were too central and Haaland was quiet.
Guardiola, who was serving a touchline ban, looked bored in the directors’ box. The energy was all off, even when City took the lead in the 31st minute. Silva ran on to a pass from Marmoush, looked for support in the middle and was about to admonish himself after miscuing his dinked cross, only for the ball to nestle inside the far post after drifting over an unsuspecting Mads Hermansen.
It was poor from the West Ham goalkeeper but City remained shabby. “We reacted well,” Nuno said. Indeed it did not take long for West Ham to level, as Donnarumma flapped at Bowen’s corner and left Mavropanos to build on his penalty heroics in the FA Cup win over Brentford by heading in off the bar.
It was not until Cherki and Jérémy Doku came on that City improved. Matheus Nunes threatened and Haaland had a string of chances. Hermansen, though, made up for his earlier error with some excellent saves and West Ham held firm. “It was a very good defensive performance,” Nuno said. “It was heroic from our boys.”
Bowen ran himself into the ground and Mateus Fernandes battled in midfield. And when Guéhi missed deep into added time, West Ham breathed a sigh of relief and Arsenal almost allowed themselves to dream.
