August 31, (THEWILL) – Manchester City moved to the top of the English Premier League table with a 3-1 victory over West Ham United at London Stadium on Saturday evening. Erling Haaland was the star of the show, netting a hat-trick for the second consecutive week to maintain City’s perfect start to the 2024/2025 season.
West Ham started brightly, with Jarrod Bowen causing problems for the City defence. However, it was Haaland who opened the scoring after 10 minutes, capitalising on a poor pass from Emerson Palmieri. West Ham equalised through a Ruben Dias own goal, but Haaland quickly restored City’s lead with a powerful strike.
The Norwegian completed his hat-trick late in the second half, racing clear of the West Ham defence before calmly chipping the ball over substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. The result leaves Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham side with two home defeats from their opening League fixtures.
Pep Guardiola’s City team controlled large portions of the match, although they looked vulnerable at times when West Ham counter-attacked. Kevin De Bruyne hit the post in the first half, while Mohammed Kudus struck the woodwork for West Ham after the break.
The victory puts City in a strong position early in the season as they aim to defend their EPL title. West Ham, meanwhile, will need to regroup quickly to turn around their disappointing start to the campaign.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
