Manchester City 2-0 West Ham: City Player Ratings

Oliver Emmerson takes a closer look at the Manchester City players, rating them out of 10 after City's 2-0 Premier League victory against West Ham on Sunday afternoon.

Manchester City 2-0 West Ham: City Player Ratings
Manchester City 2-0 West Ham: MCFC Player Ratings.
oliveremmerson
By Oliver Emmerson

Manchester City moved to within one point of local rivals Manchester United in third place, and took a huge step towards securing UEFA Champions League qualification as they eased to a comfortable 2-0 victory against West Ham on Sunday. An own goal from Hammers defender James Collins was followed by a Sergio Aguero strike, making it a good win for the team. But let's take a look at how each player fared individually.

Joe Hart: Another clean sheet for the England international in a game where he was rarely troubled. He stopped West Ham scoring from two good chances, through Carlton Cole in the first-half and Kevin Nolan in the second. 7

Pablo Zabaleta: After a few poor games the Argentine was back to his best against West Ham, defending perfectly and causing a constant threat when overlapping Navas. With three intercetions, eight tackles and a 90% pass accuracy, Zabaleta can be proud of his performance. 7

Martin Demichelis: There wasn't much to do for Zabaleta's international companion as Demichelis had a fairly easy game, in which he made just one mistake, gifting the ball to Cole for one of West Ham's better chances. 6

Elaquim Mangala: The big money summer signing has had many questions asked of him since his move from Porto nearly a year ago, but none were asked today as he nulified any threat posed by Cole with ease. 7

Aleksandar Kolarov: Considering that he had the bare minimum to do defensively, the Serbian really failed with the opportunity to stake his claim as City's number one left-back ahead of Gael Clichy, with a number of his crosses and set-pieces way off target. 5

Fernando: Doing exactly what was expected of him, Fernando's battling display in defensive midfield allowed those in front of him to push on and break West Ham down. 6

Frank Lampard: He's struggled to get into the team recently and it showed as Lampard was ineffective against his former club, failing to make a lasting impact on the game in truth. 5

Jesus Navas: MAN OF THE MATCH - In one of his finest games of the season, Navas put in a sparkling performance. Assisting both goals, Navas seemed to somehow find the end product that had been lacking in him for so long, troubling the Hammers defence from start to finish. 8

Yaya Touré: The much maligned midfielder was City's captain in the absence of Vincent Kompany, but didn't really make a captain's impact. He's been hounded in the media recently for poor performances, and was by no means poor this time around, but would have wished for much more given his obvious talents. 6

David Silva: The playmaker's performance was cut short early on in the second-half through a nasty head injury that resulted in nine minutes of stoppage time, but he was largely impressive before that. When on top form, watching Silva is a pleasure and you could tell he was nearing those levels today. 7

Sergio Aguero: The striker is finally hitting injury free form, and took his goal tally to 20 thanks to a lovely finish past Adrían. On another day he could have had a hat-trick, and in another season he may have hit 30 goals. 8

Substitutes:

Fernandinho: 6

Samir Nasri: 5

Edin Dzeko: 6