Manchester City 0, West Ham 0 (Carabao Cup 4th Round, West Ham win 5-3 on penalties)
Manchester City were knocked out of the Carabao Cup for the first time in since 2016 after an entertaining Cup tie at a full London Stadium.
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter a dominant 90 minutes, City failed to convert their chances into goals – they had 27 shots with 7 on target from 64% possession in London, the game went to the dreaded penalties.
Phil Foden had been in sparkling form recently but he missed City’s first spot kick while West Ham scored all of theirs with Said Benrahma firing in the penalty that ended City’s five year reign as Carabao Cup holders.
City had fielded nine changes, with only Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan staying in the team from the weekend while West Ham made eight changes.
Cole Palmer was rewarded for his goalscoring Champions League debut, and EDS hat trick, with a start in the Carabao Cup in a lineup full of international stars.
Palmer was the only one who wasn’t a full international though, and he is an England U21 player.
And he took a full part in an end to end match which somehow ended goalless with a lack of fluency in front of goal against organised defending costing City dearly in the end-of-game penalty lottery.
Zack Steffen had to be cool to snatch the ball away from Manuel Lanzini on one of their rare attacks.
Mark Noble forced a save from the American soon afterwards but City were swift on the break.
Palmer got Alphonse Areola to make his first save of the game, with his legs, as the Hammers held up well.
After the break the Hammers proved to be every bit City’s equal when they had the ball as both sides created chances in a well paced contest but City should have scored with Nathan Ake, Gundogan, and John Stones going close.
West Ham replaced their front three on the night after the hour mark while City swapped in Joao Cancelo, the in-form Phil Foden, and Gabriel Jesus as the stakes grew.
Areola defied several City chances to score as the Hammers refused to be beaten with blocks and tackles flying in to disrupt City’s rhythm and had their best chances of the game through Tomas Soucek.
To penalties it went, and Noble put his late penalty miss against United a few weeks ago behind him to put West Ham on track for a famous win over City after Foden missed City’s first spot kick.
PENALTIES – Manchester City 0, West Ham 0 (Carabao Cup 4th Round, West Ham win 5-3 on penalties)
West Ham 1, Man City 0: Mark Noble stepped up first and slammed his spot kick down the middle to beat Zack Steffen.
West Ham 1, Man City 0: Phil Foden dragged his shot wide of the bottom corner.
West Ham 2, Man City 0: Jarrod Bowen’s penalty crept in past Zack Steffen who got a hand on it but couldn’t keep it out.
West Ham 2, Man City 1: Joao Cancelo found the bottom corner past Alphonse Areola.
West Ham 3, Man City 1: Craig Dawson stepped up and sent Zack Steffen the wrong way with a spot kick into the left corner.
West Ham 3, Man City 2: Gabriel Jesus coolly rolled the ball into the bottom corner after waiting for Areola to commit.
West Ham 4, Man City 2: Aaron Cresswell sent Zack Steffen the wrong way.
West Ham 4, Man City 3: Jack Grealish was under pressure but found the top corner.
West Ham 5, Man City 3: Said Benrahma scored to win the tie for West Ham.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City 0, West Ham 0 (Carabao Cup 4th Round, West Ham win 5-3 on penalties)
West Ham: Areola, Johnson, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell, Soucek, Noble, Vlasic (Benrahma 62), Lanzini (Coufal 82), Masuaku (Fornals 62), Yarmolenko (Bowen 62)
West Ham subs not used: Randolph, Zouma, Ashby, Chesters, Baptiste
Man City: Steffen, Walker (Cancelo 46), Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, De Bruyne (Grealish 83), Fernandinho, Gundogan, Mahrez (Foden 72), Palmer (Jesus 76), Sterling
Man City subs not used: Carson, Dias, Laporte, Rodri, Edozie
Referee: Jonathan Moss