West Ham should feel encouraged by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola’s post-match comments

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The Citizens boss seemed almost at a loss as to how the Hammers kept them at bay for much of the game.

West Ham United have not had the best of times against Manchester City in recent years, as a look at 11v11’s log of all the fixtures between the two shows.

Ahead of Wednesday night’s Premier League game at the Etihad Stadium, the Hammers had shipped four or more goals to the Citizens on four occasions.

Although West Ham lost in this last game, a narrow and somewhat contentious 1-0 defeat following a stout performance is a definite step in the right direction.

The frustration amonst the home contingent became ever more palpable as Manuel Pellegrini lined up his charges to repel the opposition’s attacks and, until just before the hour mark, they did just that.

Substitute Bernardo Silva controversially went down in the box under pressure from Felipe Anderson and referee Stuart Atwell pointed to the spot, with Sergio Aguero sending Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way.

After the game, Pep Guardiola’s comments appeared to convey a sense of frustration and almost disbelief at how his side simply couldn’t break down West Ham.

“They made us work hard for the result,” he told Sky Sports News. “We created a lot of chances, so it’s amazing to understand how it was just 1-0 and in the last minute, anything can happen.In the first five minutes, it could’ve been 2-0 easily. The longer it stays at 0-0 or 1-0 the more impatient you become but in general we defended so well.

“With the long balls to Carroll and to Antonio we applied ourselves very well and created a lot of chances. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score more goals, after the 120 minutes against Chelsea, the team showed incredible spirit and we made a really good performance.”

Indeed, this was the first time in the Premier League this season that City have been restricted to just one goal in a home game, testament to Pellegrini’s great coaching work, which bodes well for the remainder of the season and beyond.