West Ham 1-3 Man City: Haaland Nets Another Hat-Trick in Player Ratings Breakdown

Manchester City moved to the top of the Premier League table with a 3-1 win at West Ham United in Saturday's evening kick-off.

Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick for the second week running to maintain the champions' 100% start to the 2024/25 season.

Julen Lopetegui's side have now lost both of their home Premier League games to open the new campaign.

West Ham enjoyed a fast start to the match, with Josko Gvardiol having to clear a deflected Mohammed Kudus to prevent Michail Antonio from tapping in at the back post, while Ederson palmed away a stinging strike from Jarrod Bowen.

The first chance for the visitors saw Haaland miss a header from close range. Bernardo Silva made a clever run off of Jack Grealish and delivered a high cross for his Norwegian teammate, who couldn't keep his effort down.

But Haaland made no mistake with his second chance on the ten-minute mark. Emerson Palmieri played a poor ball into Lucas Paqueta that was pounced upon by Bernardo Silva, whose pass into Haaland was perfect and he was able to roll the ball past a helpless Alphonse Areola.

West Ham were proving their own worst enemies as Konstantinos Mavropanos lost out to Haaland, who set Kevin De Bruyne racing away. Possession shifted to Jack Grealish, whose shot was deflected behind. From the resulting corner, Areola produced a flying save to deny a whipped De Bruyne strike.

De Bruyne went ever closer when he rattled the post at the end of a swift City breakaway, before Grealish's rebound whistled over the woodwork.

City were punished for not adding a second as West Ham pulled level on 19 minutes through an own goal. Bowen scampered away down the right and delivered a teasing cross, which was turned into his own net by Ruben Dias.

But it didn't take too long for Pep Guardiola's side to go back in front. Some quick interchanges on the edge of the West Ham box saw the ball eventually land at the feet of Haaland, who arrowed a strike into the top of the net.

Haaland so nearly turned provider for Rico Lewis with a deft flick in behind the West Ham backline, but the full-back's shot sailed over.

After the break, West Ham went ever so close to equalising for a second time. City failed to scramble the ball over the line at one end, and the Hammers launched a quick counter attack which saw Bowen slot in Kudus, who could only strike the post.

Bowen was continuing to cause problems for City, next up feeding Antonio with a disguised ball towards the near post, which had to be turned behind at close range for a corner.

City broke up the pattern of West Ham's pressure with an opportunity of their own just after the hour mark. Grealish drifted infield and teed up Silva, but his strike was weak and failed to cause any trouble.

A De Bruyne cross following a short corner then found Dias awaiting at the back post. However, Aaron Wan-Bissaka did enough to put off the Portuguese defender and he could only poke the ball behind.

With under ten minutes remaining, City had their third and Haaland had his second-successive hat-trick. The champions sliced right through the middle of West Ham, who pushed high and allowed the striker space to sprint into. Matheus Nunes came up with the killer pass, and Haaland dinked it over Lukasz Fabianski - brought on for the injured Areola - to round off the scoring.

Haaland saw a low shot trickle away between the legs of Fabianski in added time while Crysencio Summerville brought a fine save out of Ederson, but neither could find the net and City's 3-1 victory was confirmed seconds later.