West Ham lose 3-0 to Manchester City in preseason finale

It wasn’t the performance that Slaven Bilic hoped West Ham would have before their Premier League season starts, as the Hammers were dusted by Manchester City 3-0 in Iceland on Friday and saw Marko Arnautovic come off the field.

The Croatian manager will hope his side’s defending vastly improves when they face off against the red half of Manchester in nine days time when they travel to United, as sloppy mistakes and positioning lead to City’s goals on the day.

Angelo Ogbonna’s shaky touches and lack of sagacity lead to City’s opener, as the Italian buckled under the pressure from Pep Guardiola’s side that eventually lead to Gabriel Jesus finishing past Joe Hart in the 8th minute.

City were constantly on the front foot, with half chances for Sergio Aguero and David Silva representing their control. Jesus almost added a second, when he muscled Ogbonna off the ball and produced a needed challenge from Joe Hart to deny the brilliant Brazilian. Another former City Hammer, Pablo Zabaleta, set up West Ham’s best chance in the first half, when he found a wide open Toni Martinez in the box, only for the young Spaniard to have his header be way too high.

Guardiola’s side would get their inevitable second in the 56th minute, when Silva delivered a delightful ball into the path of Aguero for a simple finish past his ex-teammate Hart. And the Blues would wrap up their clear victory, when Raheem Sterling was quickest to react to a deflected shot to make it 3-0 in the 70th minute.

Arnautovic came off the field on his own in the 62th minute, although the injury at the moment doesn’t appear to be serious from initial reports.

Update: And as expected, Arnie is fine!