Man City's best and worst players in huge West Ham win
By Tom Gott
Manchester City won their first of their games in hand over Arsenal on Wednesday as they saw off West Ham 3-0.
Pep Guardiola's side are back on top of the Premier League table and still have one extra game to play - against Brighton later this month.
They were made to work hard for these three points, however, as West Ham defended resiliently in the first half and left City frustrated.
Just five minutes into the second half, the breakthrough came as Nathan Ake headed home from a Riyad Mahrez free-kick, giving City the cushion they were looking for.
With an extra swagger in their step, City would grab a few more goals before they were done. Unsurprisingly, Erling Haaland got himself in on the action with an excellent lobbed effort which nestled in the back of Lukasz Fabianski's net and sent him away celebrating his 35th goal of the season, breaking the Premier League's all-time single season scoring record in the process.
Phil Foden would add a third with five minutes to go to send City back into the driver's seat in the Premier League title race.
Here's who stood out for City on Wednesday, both for good and bad reasons, courtesy of 90min's player ratings.
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Man City's best player vs West Ham
Nathan Ake: 8/10
Nathan Ake is going from strength to strength this season.
The Dutchman returned from two games out injured to make yet another huge impact for City, heading in the team's opening goal after a first half in which he was one of the few players to threaten for Pep Guardiola's side.
If he was playing for any other team in the division, he'd be winning their Player of the Season award. What a year from Ake.
Honourable mention
Erling Haaland: 7/10
It wasn't always the prettiest performance from Haaland, but his goal was glorious and epitomised the poacher's nature with which he has terrorised English football this season.
Once his legs got going and Jack Grealish had spotted his intentions, you already knew how this was ending. Haaland got through on goal, sat Lukasz Fabianski down and dinked the ball into the back of the net with utter class.
35 Premier League goals. 35.
Man City's worst player vs West Ham
Kyle Walker: 5/10
Did Walker do anything offensively wrong? No. He kept a clean sheet and repelled the limited threat that came his way.
What stood out with Walker, however, was his limited impact in attack. While Ake was fizzing down the left side and linking up with Jack Grealish, Walker looked clunky alongside Riyad Mahrez and did nothing to help City get on top of the game.
Dishonourable mention
Bernardo Silva: 5/10
Tasked with playing Kevin De Bruyne's role here, there's no denying that we didn't see the best out of Bernardo Silva.
West Ham's deep defensive line limited the space available to him and the powerful duo of Angelo Ogbonna and Thilo Kehrer were happy to block him whenever he tried to get through. Even in midfield, Silva struggled up against Flynn Downes and Lucas Paqueta.
Simply an off night for Silva.