By Dan Tracey
The Hammers are making the journey back across the capital buoyed by their showing on the road and on the evidence of their first 180 minutes of this new Premier League campaign, there is no doubt that the transformation in playing style has been a rather quick one.
Just edged out by Aston Villa at the London Stadium on the opening weekend, there were still plenty of positives to take from the Hammers’ performance that evening and even more to take from their win at Selhurst Park.
One main take away is that instead of revolution under Lopetegui, it is more a sense of evolution instead. In time, the likes of Niclas Füllkrug and Crysencio Summerville will be given more opportunities but for now, they are very handy options to have off the bench.
Of course, this evolution of the West Ham side is still largely a work in progress and there is no doubt that the East London outfit will be put to work when they welcome Manchester City through their doors on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola’s men make the journey south having made it two wins from two at the start of the season and after cruising past Chelsea in their opener, they subsequently crushed Ipswich last weekend.
However, that crushing did not come about before taking a dent themselves and with Sammie Szmodics scoring early on for the Tractor Boys, there was delirium for those in attendance in the away end.
That delirium would eventually turn to disaster for Kieran McKenna’s men and with the Manchester City bear well and truly poked after conceding in the seventh minute of the game, that bear then swiped its paws at last season’s Championship runners-up.
Just nine minutes later, City had turned the game on its head and turned a one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead. Such is the power of their attack; Ipswich could not catch their breath and they were all but done when Erling Haaland completed his hat-trick after the break.
With the nature of this season’s title race already being shaped into a scenario where every encounter is a must win. Pep Guardiola knows this is another hurdle that must be cleared. At the same time, Julen Lopetegui would love to claim a major scalp so early in his West Ham tenure.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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