Man City's title hopes take huge hit as draw lifts West Ham out of relegation zone

[p]Pep Guardiola may have been in the stands serving a touchline ban, but his side immediately controlled possession and put the hosts under pressure, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bowen-jarrod/pW170H9K/"]Jarrod Bowen[/a] being forced to challenge [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ait-nouri-rayan/t4db4nTt/"]Rayan Ait-Nouri[/a] in his own box.[/p][p]Even with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-city/Wtn9Stg0/"]City[/a] completely dictating the game’s tempo, they were unable to test [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hermansen-mads/fq8hQjAg/"]Mads Hermansen[/a] with the men in claret and blue defending resolutely, and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/marmoush-omar/44pYRYIC/"]Omar Marmoush[/a] guiding a free-kick harmlessly wide. [/p][embed guid="4d02e720-b06d-429e-97b6-37649a9015b7" url="https://x.com/ManCity/status/2032912223341883510" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]The first shot on target eventually came in the 31st minute and was more than worth the wait for the visitors, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/silva-bernardo/lUg03qcR/"]Bernardo Silva[/a] collecting Marmoush’s pass before gloriously dinking the ball over Hermansen and inside the far post.[/b][/p][p][b]West Ham responded well to the setback and equalised just four minutes later, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mavropanos-konstantinos/zBXgM0Xa/"]Konstantinos Mavropanos[/a] rose to meet Bowen’s corner with a towering header that bounced off the crossbar and over the line.[/b][/p][embed guid="f4f16376-5733-48ef-9889-3b8150c00f52" url="https://x.com/premierleague/status/2032920422853853503" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/haaland-erling/UmV9iQmE/"]Erling Haaland[/a] squared the ball to give [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/semenyo-antoine/r1Gz1yPk/"]Antoine Semenyo[/a] an opportunity to reinstate the Cityzens’ lead before the break, but he guided the ball marginally wide.[/p][p]Marmoush dragged a shot wide shortly after the restart, but Guardiola’s men soon found themselves struggling to break down Nuno Espirito Santo’s valiant West Ham side again.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cherki-mathis/vm0eu2V3/"]Rayan Cherki[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/doku-jeremy/lMHcYK4f/"]Jeremy Doku[/a] were introduced on the hour mark, and the former soon found Haaland for the chance the striker would have been craving, but Hermansen did brilliantly to tip the ball wide.[/p][p]An [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/khusanov-abdukodir/00ElbXx5/"]Abdukodir Khusanov[/a] header and a Doku strike were both sent over the crossbar before Mavropanos did brilliantly to slide in front of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/matheus-nunes/KC5IHolc/"]Matheus Nunes[/a]’ effort.[/p][p]Haaland then scuffed a shot wide before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/foden-phil/E7XjDJns/"]Phil Foden[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/reijnders-tijani/f17EnPl3/"]Tijjani Reijnders[/a] became the latest visiting substitutes to be called upon.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="4764e078-b320-4a3e-a19d-d33fcbbb4e8d" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="9f8164a0-b55d-4e45-a9ad-ddc8085c2bbf" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]They couldn’t find a way through, though, as Hermansen got the finest of touches on Reijnders’ free-kick to tip the ball onto the crossbar, then saved [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/o-reilly-nico/xOrYaNWc/"]Nico O’Reilly[/a]’s header.[/p][p]Mavropanos topped off a superb performance by bravely blocking Haaland’s volley and another O'Reilly effort, while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/guehi-marc/KEeklutO/"]Marc Guehi[/a] fired over as City were forced to settle for back-to-back league draws, denting their title aspirations as they now sit nine points behind Arsenal with a game in hand.[/p][p]The point does much more for West Ham, who currently sit outside the relegation zone having lost just one of their last seven matches across all competitions.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mavropanos-konstantinos/zBXgM0Xa/"]Konstantinos Mavropanos[/a] (West Ham)[/b][/p][image alt="Momentum" id="0aa2721f-e8fc-45e3-b09f-494d1d0c9ce7" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="d2a8a270-eb08-4e7f-bd18-2de7241318c9" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/manchester-city-Wtn9Stg0/west-ham-Cxq57r8g/summary/stats/?mid=Ms9DApPh"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]