West Ham United maintained its strong form and stunned Manchester City with a 2-1 victory at Upton Park on Saturday, inflicting a second loss in the champion’s Premier league title defense.
Morgan Amalfitano opened the scoring for West Ham with a 22nd minute tap-in following a low pass into the box from Enner Valencia. Diafra Sakho scored his seventh goal in seven games to double West Ham’s lead in the 75th, after connecting with a cross from Aaron Cresswell.
David Silva magnificently halved West Ham's lead two minutes later, darting past four tackles and slotting expertly past Adrian. After the goal, a late surge from City wasn’t enough and Upton Park erupted into jubilation at the final whistle.
“This is a famous victory for us and one that we will treasure for a long, long time,” West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said.
West Ham’s midfield took a hold of the game early on. Man of the match Alex Song, on a season-long loan from Barcelona, dictated the pace in the center of midfield, overshadowing Yaya Toure and Manchester City’s other stars.
West Ham at times rode their luck in the second half with Manchester City’s in-form striker Sergio Aguero looking especially dangerous.
“Of course we’re disappointed with the result,” Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said. “But it didn’t surprise me because they are playing very well.”
The Hammers are now just a point behind City. “I am so pleased by the amount of chances we created today...but we have to keep our feet on the ground and not get too carried away with this result,” Allardyce said.
The result means Manchester City loses the opportunity to gain ground on Premier league leader Chelsea, which plays against Manchester United on Sunday at Old Trafford.
Arsenal win 2-0
Arsenal won its first Premier league match in over a month on Saturday, beating Sunderland 2-0 with a brace from Alexis Sanchez after a pair of defensive errors from Sunderland.
Sanchez scored in the 30th minute after a mistake from Wes Brown, who scuffed a back pass to Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone. Sanchez raced past Brown and collected the ball to go one-on-one with Mannone, lobbing it over the advancing ‘keeper into the back of the net.
Sanchez scored again in second-half injury time after another poor back pass. This time, the ball reached Mannone, who couldn’t control it, and Sanchez pounced to tap in.
It was Arsenal’s first league victory since September 20, when the Gunners beat Aston Villa 3-0 at Villa Park.
liverpool draw 0-0
Mario Balotelli misfired in front of goal again as liverpool was held to a 0-0 draw by Hull in the Premier league at Anfield.
But it wasn’t only Balotelli who couldn’t find a way through Hull. Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho also went close to scoring in stoppage time after liverpool dominated the second half.
Balotelli, who forced goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic to save early on, and Sterling both had penalty appeals turned down. liverpool, last season’s runner-up, dropped to sixth place, eight points behind league leaders Chelsea.
Other results: Southampton 1-0 Stoke City; West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Crystal Palace