West Ham United provided a master-class performance on Saturday to shock the Barclays Premier League champions Manchester City 2-1 on Saturday.
Goals in each half from Morgan Amalfitano and Diafra Sakho put Sam Allardyce's in-form side in control against City at the Boleyn Ground, only for a brilliant individual effort from David Silva 13 minutes from time to set up a grandstand finish.
Manuel Pellegrini's men threw everything at West Ham in the closing stages, but a stoic rearguard action from the hosts' defence, marshalled superbly by James Collins, ensured West Ham ended a five-and-a-half-year wait for a victory over City.
Allardyce claimed in the build-up that this game represented West Ham's best opportunity to end their winless run against City, due to the combination of his team's good form and the champions' midweek exertions in Europe, when Pellegrini's side drew 2-2 at CSKA Moscow.
So it proved as City struggled to cope with West Ham's energetic pressing game, exemplified by midfielder Alex Song, on loan from Barcelona, who stood out and was voted man of the match.
It was no surprise when Allardyce named an unchanged XI from last week's 3-1 win at Burnley, and the hosts, who have lost just one of their last six Barclays Premier League matches, looked full of confidence from the off. Victory means West Ham sit one point adrift of second-placed City, for whom the result represents a blow in their efforts to keep pace with table-topping Chelsea.
Sergio Aguero provided City's early attacking threat, dropping deep to run directly at the heart of West Ham's backline. Silva and Yaya Toure struggled to assert their usual influence for City, though, and West Ham were rewarded for their solid start when Amalfitano rounded off a superb team move after 21 minutes.
Three of Allardyce's summer recruits combined to break the deadlock. Enner Valencia showed his searing pace in latching on to a perfectly weighted pass from Song down the right, before cutting back for Amalfitano to convert from four yards.
Buoyed by the opener, the Hammers upped the tempo of their game and could have doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time, only for Collins to narrowly fail to connect with Amalfitano's low cross after a clever set-piece routine.
West Ham picked up where they left off after the break, with Stewart Downing and Sakho threatening Joe Hart's goal. But, as the home side's intensity dropped, City, and Aguero and Toure in particular, sparked into life.
Aguero forced Adrian into a superb save on the hour, before striking the bar from six yards after Toure's driving run through the middle had led to Jesus Navas cutting back to the striker.
Toure himself then rattled Adrian's bar, and that narrow miss proved costly as Sakho headed in his sixth Barclays Premier League goal of the season from Aaron Cresswell's deep cross to give West Ham a two-goal lead with 15 minutes to go. Silva halved the deficit as he jinked in from the right, beat four West Ham defenders before curling an unstoppable shot beyond Adrian from 18 yards.
City laid siege to Adrian's goal thereafter, with Toure firing into the side-netting in the 90th minute and Stevan Jovetic forcing the goalkeeper into another save, but West Ham held firm to secure three points. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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