On the evening of August 31 (Vietnam time), Manchester City visited West Ham after Arsenal and Brighton drew 1-1 in the earliest match of round 3 of the 2024-2025 Premier League.
Arsenal fans must have hoped their city rivals would do something against Man City, but in the end, despite their best efforts, West Ham couldn't do anything, including score, despite the score being 3-1.
It took just 10 minutes for Erling Haaland to open the scoring for the defending champions and although West Ham equalised nine minutes later, it was not one of their players who got on the scoresheet but Ruben Dias who netted an own goal.
With flexible coordination and movement, Man City controlled the ball up to 68% and launched a total of 23 shots.
The home side could only hold the balance for another 11 minutes, when Haaland once again put Man City ahead with a decisive finish in the 30th minute.
The 1-goal difference is fragile, but with the way the two teams played, there was no hope that West Ham could find a second equalizer.
Finally, in the 83rd minute, the Norwegian striker completed his hat-trick to seal a 3-1 victory. This was the second consecutive match that Haaland scored a hat-trick (last week, he scored 3 goals against Ipswich Town), bringing his total to 7 goals after 3 matches in the new season.
Haaland quickly left his opponents behind in the individual race, Man City also began to break away with 9 full points, 2 points more than Arsenal and Brighton.
If Liverpool fail to beat Manchester United tonight, Man City will be the only team with all three wins from three matches.
