For the first time since August 2024, Guardiola did not change his starting lineup. Man City dominated West Ham to win 4-1, in which Erling Haaland scored twice. This was Man City's second consecutive win in the Premier League. In the previous round, they beat Leicester City 2-0.
Asked in his press conference afterwards whether the 4-1 win was a sign that City were returning to their best, Guardiola was adamant in his denial.
“We are not at our level yet,” he said. “We know when we are playing well. In the first minutes of the game, West Ham deserved to take the lead.
Man City are a strong team, we ran a lot with the ball, handled it calmly... Of course, I'm very happy with the result, but you can't ask me if it's the old Man City?
Don't get me wrong. I'm happy and I'm sleeping better these days. But the way we're playing, the old Man City is not back. We're not at that level yet.
We scored goals, we had some great plays. Savinho played well. Everyone moved a lot. Of course, there are a lot of positives about the team. But if you ask me, is the team playing like we have been playing for the past years? No. Absolutely not.
I mean, we have to be honest with ourselves. The best way to improve is to look at the reality. We didn't have the right rhythm to control the game."
Meanwhile, coach Julen Lopetegui expressed regret over the result of the match. He shared: “I think it is not easy to explain this match. It is strange because in my opinion, West Ham deserved more. It is not easy to say that when we lost 1-4. We need to finish better.
After Man scored an own goal, we had a clear situation when Summerville won the ball from Manuel Akanji. It was not a foul but the referee blew it. Unfortunate. So many little details that explain why the result was like this.
“Although we did some positive things, it was not enough. When you don’t take advantage against City, you usually lose because they have good players.”
With the victory over West Ham, Man City has 34 points, only 2 points behind 4th place Chelsea.
