West Ham vs Manchester City: Mark Noble's early admission of defeat set the tone for City's dominant victory

Although he was named on the bench, Mark Noble set the tone for the game by saying West Ham simply are not good enough to beat Manchester City, and their performance shows they all agreed

West Ham captain Mark Noble set the tone with his pre-match comments. “If they turn up and play to their maximum then we haven’t got much of a chance.” Felipe Anderson had a more optimistic approach when he said, “there is definitely no reason to fear them”, and Manuel Pellegrini went for his naturally more diplomatic stance by suggesting they will play their way instead of altering their approach for the Premier League leaders.

As it turned out, Noble’s foreboding prediction came true and a confused West Ham were unable to match, or even get close to, Manchester City and slumped to a 4-0 defeat, although given City’s three previous visits to the London Stadium have ended 4-1, 4-0 and 5-0 it is hardly a surprise.

West Ham’s standout result and performance of the season, and at this rate something that is unlikely to be levelled, was their emphatic 3-1 victory against Manchester United, which at two months ago feels like a very distant memory. On that early autumn afternoon, the West Ham players were buoyed by United’s dismal form and profited from Jose Mourinho’s confusing tactics and team selection to produce some excellent attacking football.

Nine players that started in the win against United played on Saturday afternoon, Noble replaced by Michail Antonio – arguably an upgrade – and Andriy Yarmolenko was missing through injury, but while the personnel was largely similar, the mindsets from the West Ham players going into each of these games could not be further apart.

What will strike the hardest for Noble and his band of apathetic teammates is that Pep Guardiola’s side did not have to be at their best to make this supposedly ambitious West Ham side look incredibly ordinary.

Things got off to a bleak start for the home side when David Silva scored his fifth goal in six games courtesy of some limp defending. Arthur Masuaku’s weak attempt to block Raheem Sterling’s put the ball into Silva’s path and the City captain finished with ease.

With his captain’s inspiring words of how they simply are not good enough ringing in his ears, Masuaku then failed to track Sterling’s run to the back post as he doubled the lead by converting Leroy Sane’s low cross after the German winger made Pablo Zabaleta’s 16-year career flash before him as he zipped beyond the former City defender.

The home side made a farfetched attempt to trouble their far superior opponents and twice went close with shots from Marko Arnautovic and Antonio, but Masuaku’s third lapse in concentration allowed Sterling to escape his attention and tee up Sane to control the ball in the air, turn and score all in the six-yard box.

Manchester City made light work of West Ham (PA)

Any enthusiasm for a West Ham comeback, which was almost inspired by Antonio striking the post with an effort when one-on-one, was gone when Anderson was replaced by Lucas Perez, an admission from the manager that perhaps it was all over and that it’s better to focus on an upcoming kind run of fixtures. The fans duly agreed and began to exit with 25 minutes left to play.

City added a fourth with seconds to spare through Sane to mark another performance without a hitch as they look to increase their lead at the top of the league and take further momentum into the Christmas period. Injuries to key players Kevin De Bruyne, Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva were not felt with Fabian Delph and Ilkay Gundogan coming into the side and barely placing a foot wrong.

In a mark that it was ‘job done’ for Guardiola, Foden came on to make his 11th appearance of the season and eclipse the 10 he made last campaign in all competitions. You wonder if the 18-year-old is one of the players the West Ham captain believes is simply beyond their side that was bolstered by almost £100m in the summer transfer window.