City's European adventure ends in stunning defeat at the hands of Hammers

City's title hopes hit after Hammers blow City have fallen further behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race after a frustrating 1-1 draw with West Ham. The Blues looked to be on our way to three points when Bernardo opened the scoring just past the half-hour. But the Hammers levelled shortly after and then defended resolutely throughout the second-half to hold on and claim a valuable point in their battle against relegation.

With Arsenal beating Everton earlier in the day, it leaves City nine points adrift with a game in hand over the Gunners. The game in 250 words City started in confident style, dominating possession without testing West Ham keeper Mads Hermansen. The home side defended deep with every man behind the ball to frustrate the Blues and try and counter when the opportunity arose.

It was a frustrating watch until the 31st minute when Bernardo received the ball on the left of the box before dinking a shot/cross over the goalkeeper and into the net to make it 1-0. But there was less than four minutes to enjoy that lead before City conceded a disappointing equaliser. A straightforward corner by Jarrod Bowen found the headKonstantinos Mavropanos who, unchallenged, nodded the ball in off the underside of the crossbar and over the line.

City brought on Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku on the hour-mark and Cherki immediately fed Erling Haaland who saw a low shot just tipped around the post by Hermansen. The Blues continued to dominate without really creating any clearcut chances until Tijjani Reijnders saw a free-kick tipped onto the crossbar by Hermansen on 83 minutes. Haaland again went close again on 88 but failed to connect clearly with what proved to be our final chance of the game.