Manchester City have had to struggle for wins recently, but when West Ham arrived at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, bringing with them the league’s joint-worst defensive record, the expectation would have been that City would have a return to the norm, racking up goals for fun.
Instead they were faced with a well-organised West Ham defence that did a good job of blunting City’s attack. Fortunately, City have a man for that sort of thing in David Silva, and he delivered his usual blend of vision, passing, movement, along with the winning goal.
Here’s an in-depth look at Silva’s instrumental performance.
BASIC STATS
Goals – 1
Assists – 0
Shots – 4
Shots on target – 2
Pass Accuracy – 86%
Key Passes – 5
Touches – 109
Dribbles – 0
EFFECTIVENESS
Silva conducted City’s attack from midfield as he always does, pulling the strings with his sharp passing and movement. It was the latter trait that won the game for City, after long spells where it seemed West Ham would be too tough to unlock even for a man of his play-making ability. But his darting run into the box – the first time he’d done that all game – got the defence to panic, and he took advantage with a cool finish to win the game.
David Silva’s moment of brilliance won the game for Man City.
KEY MOMENTS
25th min, SHOT: Nearly a cracking goal as Silva let fly from outside the box. His left-footed strike took a deflection, making Adrian’s job even tougher, but the West Ham keeper pulled out a fine save.
77th min, SHOT: Another chance for Silva, this time to put City in the lead. A clever turn earned him the space to shoot, but it was blocked thanks to some excellent defending.
83rd min, GOAL: A superb finish. Kevin de Bruyne sent in a delightful ball, and Silva took advantage of some slack West Ham defending to ghost in. But what made the finish so good was that Silva got a tug on his shirt that left him off-balance, yet he still managed to contort himself to get his foot on the ball and score the winner.
VERDICT – 8/10
It looked like this would be a frustrating night for Silva and City. But like in the two previous games, they found a way to break a stubborn team’s resistance and collect all three points. That they did was largely down to their diminutive Spanish veteran, who was his usual visionary self in midfield.
His telling impact came from his celebrated ability to spot a gap in the defence. Where he usually does that to find the perfect pass for a teammate, this time he ghosted into that space himself to score a superb winner and ensure City maintained their eight-point gap atop the Premier League table.
