West Ham 1-1 Man City: Pep's side suffer title blow with 9 points off the top

Frustrated Manchester City were left nine points behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race after being held by West Ham, who moved out of the relegation zone for the first time since December with a battling point.

Match Report

In a tense match largely low on quality, the flashpoint came with two goals in the space of four minutes.

First, City captain Bernardo Silva seemed to have provided the springboard his team needed with a moment of skill and impudence in the 31st minute.

He carried the ball into the box from the left and, spotting home keeper Mads Hermansen straying off his line anticipating a cross, chipped the ball towards the far post.

Whether the Portuguese midfielder was aiming for striker Erling Haaland or the net, the outcome was the same.

But West Ham struck back just four minutes later with their only attempt on goal.

A Jarrod Bowen corner was met with a towering header by Konstantinos Mavropanos, the former Arsenal centre-back, for his first goal for the club in three years.

The Greek international was brought in to shore up the Hammers defence with a five-man backline, but provided a crucial intervention at the other end - helped by City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who flapped when coming for the cross.

Antoine Semenyo flashed a low shot narrowly wide just before the break, before Hermansen also did brilliantly to deny Haaland one-on-one just before the hour.

In a flurry of late chances, Rayan Cherki rattled the crossbar with a free-kick late on.

But it was a tepid, stuttering performance from City who looked low on confidence following their 3-0 midweek Champions League last-16 first-leg beating at Real Madrid.

West Ham, meanwhile, moved out of the relegation zone for the first time in 100 days after just their fourth point from their last 21 league games against City as Nottingham Forest dropped into the bottom three.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

0' Guardiola watches on from the stands as he's got a touchline ban for the game

10' Marmoush is booked as he blocks the ball with his arm

21' Marmoush steps up from the free-kick but he drags it wide

27' Match Event for West Ham vs Man City

31' GOAL! Silva opens the scoring from a tight angle! West Ham 0-1 Man City

35' GOAL! Mavropanos heads home to equalize quickly! West Ham 1-1 Man City

59' Cherki and Jeremy Doku coming on for Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri

60' Ceherki slides it through for Haaland but Hermansen gets a good fingertip to it

63' Khusanov gets his head to the corner first but it flies over the top

67' Match Event for West Ham vs Man City

70' Haaland has a swing of the left boot as his effort drifts wide of the far post

74' Foden and Tijjani Reijnders replace Antoine Semenyo and Bernardo Silva

78' Cherki swings the boot at it but it's easy for Mads Hermansen

85' Match Event for West Ham vs Man City

Line-ups

West Ham XI: Soucek, Bowen, Disasi, Mavropanos, Wan-Bissaka, Taty Castellanos, Todibo, Mads Hermansen, Pablo, Mateus Fernandes, El Hadji Malick Diouf

Subs: Callum Wilson, Areola, Traore, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Freddie Potts, Soungoutou Magassa, Mohamadou Kanté, Ezra Mayers

Man City XI: Bernardo Silva, Donnarumma, Rodri, Haaland, Omar Marmoush, Guehi, Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Matheus Nunes, Nico O'Reilly, Abdukodir Khusanov

Subs: Kovacic, Ake, Ruben Dias, Foden, Reijnders, Nico González, James Trafford, Cherki, Doku