Manchester City Rises In The Second Round To Beat West Ham 3-1

Bernardo Silva, and Erling Haaland, bring Manchester Citty a goal party. (Photo: twitter @mancity)

JAKARTA - Goals in the second half from Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva, and Erling Haaland brought the Premier League champion Manchester City, up from behind to a 3-1 win over West Ham, Saturday 16 September at London Stadium, London.

Haaland entered the match at London Stadium, where he scored twice on his Premier League debut last season, with six goals in four league games this season. Unfortunately he missed a chance at the back post at the end of the first half after receiving a flat pass from Josko Gvardiol in the 15th minute.

James Ward-Prowse, who has performed very well since moving from Southampton to east London last month, showed his header skills in the 36th minute. He was able to reach Vladimir Coufal's cross and directed the ball into the net.

Doku took part in the goal because he was a little involved in the incident, but City's newest additional player performed brilliantly on the left wing. In the 43rd minute he fired a low shot from a tight angle directed at the goal by Haaland, but Nayef Aguerd managed to clear the ball on the line.

At the start of the second half, the Belgian international decided to try on his own, convincing Coufal to step back before pointing a shot with his right foot into the far corner of the net for his first goal with City.

Julian Alvarez then hit the post from a free kick and Areola performed brilliantly to save Haaland's volley from Rodri's chip pass. However, West Ham's goalkeeper was helpless when Nayef Aguerd miscalculated Alvarez's pass and Silva scored in the 76th minute.

Areola won another win in his duel with Haaland when he thwarted the Norwegian superstar from Kyle Walker's cross. However, the City top scorer finally gave him a closing goal from Silva's measured pass.

City have won five of the five games in a very good start to their streak of four consecutive league titles. They have never started this season well since the first season under Guardiola's control.