Erling Haaland double helps Man City ease past West Ham

ESPN’s Mark Donaldson and Janusz Michallik give their immediate reaction to Man City’s 4-1 at home to West Ham.

Manchester City thrashed West Ham United 4-1 in the Premier League on Saturday to claim their first back-to-back wins since October thanks to two goals from Erling Haaland in one of their best performances in weeks.

The champions are sixth in the table on 34 points, 11 behind leaders Liverpool who have two games in hand. West Ham, who were coming off a 5-0 rout by Liverpool, are 13th with 23 points.

Savinho, who scored his first goal for City in the 2-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday which was their first victory in five league games, set up three goals at Etihad Stadium, including the 10th-minute opener when defender Vladimír Coufal deflected the Brazilian’s angled shot into the far corner.

Haaland, whose double was his first in a Premier League game since September, struck in the 42nd minute when Savinho whipped in a long cross and the big Norwegian leapt sideways to head in.

Haaland notched his second shortly after the break when Savinho set him clear with a through ball and the 24-year-old nonchalantly chipped over goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.

Phil Foden increased City’s lead in the 58th minute when Kevin De Bruyne pounced on Mohammed Kudus’ sloppy pass and sent a square pass to Foden for an easy tap-in.

Niclas Füllkrug grabbed a late consolation for the visitors.

West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui will surely rue several terrific chances for his team in a positive first half, including an early close-range shot from Kudus into the side netting after the Hammers had sliced through City’s nervous- looking defence.

Soon after, Kudus sprinted down the right before cutting the ball back to Tomás Soucek who sent his shot wide and Kudus blazed another shot wide.

West Ham had 17 shots to City’s 10, but only four on target, while the home side had seven.

It was only the second time this season that City scored four goals in a league game, the other being a 4-1 win over Ipswich Town.

West Ham have conceded three or more goals in eight games this season, tied for worst with rock-bottom Southampton.