Aveek Chaudhuri, February 27, 2021

20 in a row. Manchester City have seriously won 20 games in a row after a 2-1 win against a strong West Ham team in the Premier League on Saturday. Even though City's offense has been amazing this season, the 2 goals actually came from the 2 center-backs, Rúben Dias and John Stones, who scored in the 30' minute and 68' minute respectively. After Dias's opener, West Ham scored an equalizer when Michail Antonio scored in the 43' minute but Stones's goal proved to be the difference maker as the Hammers fell to a relentless City. This win sees City extend their lead at the top of the table to 13 points, currently on 62 points now, while West Ham stay at 4th.

Manchester City dominated the match with 64% possession compared to West Ham's 36%. However, with shots both teams were pretty much equal. City had 10 total shots with 3 on target while West Ham had 9 in total, also with 3 on target. However, the quality of City's performance was simply too much for David Moyes's men. City's first goal came after a beautiful ball delivered by Kevin De Bruyne into the box which Dias headed in for his first goal for the Cityzens in his career. Their second came after some brilliant footwork by Riyad Mahrez who passed it to Stones who shot it into the back of the net. This recent performance from the defensive pairing of Stones and Dias has seen the two now score 5 and only concede 3 in their 16 total appearances together. Simply sensational!

No doubt, Pep Guardiola will be happy with this result, especially considering West Ham's form this season in the Premier League. The story of Stones's come back into the team is truly amazing as is Dias's assimilation to English football. Stones's recent performances, however, does spell bad news for defender Aymeric Laporte who has seen his gametime severely reduced this season. This has seen Laporte being linked to Real Madrid with a move to the Bernabéu in the summer. This game also saw the return of Sergio Agüero who made his first start since October after picking up an injury, but he did struggle against the Hammers, not being able to provide as much as he usually does. But this is not too worrying as there is no doubt he will soon be back to his usual self. City next face Wolves on Tuesday, March 2, and they will surely look to make it 21 in a row.