Manchester City strolled past West Ham United 3-0 to maintain the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
Erling Haaland finished at the second attempt after his initial shot was saved from a Phil Foden cross after five minutes. The result was never in doubt from there.
Tijjani Reijnders doubled the home side’s advantage shortly before half-time after some wonderful build-up play from Foden and Rayan Cherki, before Haaland picked up his 25th goal of the season for City in the second half.
The win puts City top of the Premier League on 37 points, with Arsenal playing their game in hand away at Everton later today.
Here, Jordan Campbell breaks down the key talking points.
Reijnders back to his best?
After a blistering start to his Premier League career with a debut goal and assist at Wolves, it was expected that Reijnders would deliver the numbers that had been lost with the departure of Kevin De Bruyne.
But after that strike at Molineux, it has been more common to see the Dutchman with his head in his hands or looking to the sky, asking why his luck had seemed to desert him.
Reijnders is finding form (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
He ended a run of 13 Premier League games without a goal at Craven Cottage and made it two in four top-flight games with a smart finish against West Ham.
It looked like it could be another frustrating night in front of goal when the ball reached Reijnders at the edge of the box and he dithered, losing possession and losing the patience of some fans.
He found himself with an even better opportunity less than a minute later when Cherki threaded the ball into his path as he closed in on goal, but despite having plenty of time he shot straight at Alphonse Areola. Another shake of the head followed.
It has seemed at times that he is overthinking things after looking at the goalkeeper, lacking the confidence to take his strike instinctively.
That was how his goal arrived. It was him reacting to a quickly developing picture. The muscle memory took over. Cherki showed terrific feet to drive into the box and find Haaland. The Norwegian had the awareness to prod the ball to Reijnders who took two brilliant touches to evade Maximilian Kilman and finish high into the near corner.
Returned to the starting XI in recent games due to the absence of Jeremy Doku, Reijnders was positioned just off Haaland with Foden shuffled to the left.
He did not influence the game much in the first 30 minutes but the goal visibly changed his confidence levels and he started to exude more control over possession.
For Guardiola, finding another player other than Haaland and Foden who can reach double figures this season will be imperative to their hopes of outgunning their rivals. He will still hope Reijnders can be that man.
Ominous City
Manchester City are notorious for chasing down leads in the title race, but for at least five hours on Saturday they are the pace setters.
The 3-0 victory over West Ham was their fifth consecutive win in the league and took them a point above Arsenal, who have to win away at Everton to return to the top of the Premier League table.
City are starting to apply some heavy pressure on Mikel Arteta’s side, who have won three of their last six — and salvaged their last three points against Wolves in dramatic fashion.
The points column is the obvious place to look first, but the goal difference is always worth noting. City are now five ahead of Arsenal and have scored 11 times more.
10 – Erling Haaland has put Manchester City 1-0 ahead in 10 of their 17 Premier League games this season. No other player has scored the opener in more than five games in the competition in 2025-26. Ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/rr5Xevc1bC
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 20, 2025
City have netted at least three goals in their last five fixtures. Indeed, they have reached that number in six of their last seven. The only time they failed was in the 2-1 defeat by Newcastle — the only game they lost in that time.
It is quite the turnaround in a month. After Arsenal’s 4-1 demolition of Spurs, City were third and trailed by seven points. They were five behind on goal difference.
Another ominous statistic for Arsenal — who are still to visit the Etihad — is that since April, City have won the most home games (13) and home points of any team (39). August’s defeat by Spurs was the only time they have lost. The last time they won more in a row on home soil was between January and November 2023 (15) — and Arsenal know what that meant come May.
First-half dominance
It took 19 minutes for Pep Guardiola to make his first gesture in frustration. Those who watch the Spaniard on the touchline know that is a very long time for such an animated manager.
The sin? City had counter-pressed well and tackled twice, but West Ham had luckily escaped.
But to have gone that long without vexing their manager was proof City were dominating like the City of old.
The press was as aggressive and united as it has been all season. Cherki and Haaland were busting a gut as soon as they lost it, and that hunger to win the ball back was infectious.
West Ham had only one look at goal during the entire first 45 minutes as Jarrod Bowen took a speculative effort from a very wide angle. Apart from that, this was as one-sided a game as you are likely to see.
West Ham offered nothing, but City did not give them any encouragement, and that is progress.
It looked like they were on course to go the full game without conceding a shot on target, but in the second half they showed flashes of the complacency that allowed Leeds United and Fulham to stage comebacks.
Haaland killed the game with his second of the night, though, and City should have had more on the counter-attack when the game opened up.
Guardiola freshened things up early by giving Nico Gonzalez, Bernardo Silva and Cherki an early rest on what was as straightforward a game as City could have hoped for. Over to Arsenal…
What did Guardiola say?
Are you seeing the attributes of a title-winning team?
“We will be there. If they follow me, we will be ther,e but we have to improve. I know the level in Europe, in the Premier League, I know Arsenal and the other teams and how tough they are, it is not enough. The spirit is there, last season we did not have the spirit or aggression or hunger — all the attributes they need. It is not about the highlights and how good the actions are; there is something that comes from inside, where we will recover from the Club World Cup.
‘The next step is hopefully to have Rodri back and we have to do many things better. You cannot forget Jeremy [Doku], [Mateo] Kovacic, Rodri, Omar Marmoush are not here. Rayan Ait-Nouri is not here, but we need him because Nico O’Reilly cannot play 90 minutes every game in his role.
‘We had four or five players from the academy on the bench. Don’t misunderstand me, I am delighted, happy and these guys are top, they follow us and give their life, but if they want to reach the next step, if they play in a diamond like today or five at the back or four, there are spaces in different ways and you have to be in the right spots. The positional game will define the team. Today it was not good.”
What next for City?
Saturday, December 27: Nottingham Forest (Away), Premier League, 12.30pm UK, 7.30am ET
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