Man City 1-1 West Ham: Former Gunners defender Konstantinos Mavropanos helps his former club in the title race, leaving Josep Guardiola’s side further behind Arsenal.
Manchester City ended in a draw (Image: Izzy Poles – AMA/Getty Images)
Manchester City ended up drawing 1-1 with a resurgent West Ham in a match that had huge implications for both sides in the Premier League. Konstantinos Mavropanos headed home the equalizer for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in the first half, moments after Bernardo Silva put City ahead with a stylish chip.
Mavropanos’ header not only gave West Ham a vital point to lift them out of the relegation zone, but also gave his former club Arsenal a huge advantage in the title race. Arsenal, who beat Everton in dramatic fashion 2-0 earlier on Saturday, are now nine points behind City after Josep Guardiola’s side dropped down the table for the second successive league game.
Arsenal will celebrate West Ham’s result, but Nottingham Forest will never celebrate. Nuno’s former employer dropped to the bottom three after the draw at the London Stadium.
As for the title race, Guardiola insisted it was “not over yet”, despite hinting at much in his pre-match press conference. “We haven’t lost, so it’s not over yet,” the City manager told TNT Sports. “We will continue. We have incredible team spirit.”
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Rodri echoed his coach’s thoughts, saying: “Maybe (the title fight is over), maybe no. We’re not going to back down and we’re going to keep fighting.”
“I know it’s going to be difficult because I have the experience of what it takes to win at the end. I think it’s too far, but I’m going to fight until the end.”
“This is a moment with no regrets. Today we showed a little bit of a season that has had its ups and downs, but maybe that last pass or that last strike could make the difference. In soccer, goals are the lifeblood, but we couldn’t find a player who was scoring goals.”
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West Ham move out of the relegation zone (Image: Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)
“That’s the most important thing in football, because we created chances and controlled the game, which is what makes the difference.”
Commenting on West Ham’s effort, Nuno said on Match of the Day: (The defense was heroic) You could say they sacrificed a lot and put a lot of body on the line. It has to be like this.
“We defended very well, the midfield worked very hard and the players up front also tried to cut their lines to slow the game down. The overall defense, especially in the first half, was really, really compact and we didn’t allow City too many chances.”
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