Premier League 2025-26: Manchester City loses ground on Arsenal after draw against West Ham United
Manchester City lost further ground on Premier League 2025-26 leader Arsenal on Saturday as it was held to a 1-1 draw at West Ham United, which left it nine points behind with a game in hand.
After Arsenal left it late to beat Everton 2-0, Bernardo Silva put City ahead in the 31st minute with a fortunate chip over goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, before Konstantinos Mavropanos headed home Jarrod Bowen’s corner four minutes later.
City manager Pep Guardiola had claimed the title race could be over if his side dropped points again, and City came forward with increasing desperation in search of a winner after the break.
Erling Haaland, on a run of four goals in his previous 17 games, drew a fingertip save from Hermansen before he scuffed a shot wide from Antoine Semenyo’s cutback.
Marc Guehi then sliced horribly wide in the fifth minute of added time as West Ham deservedly clung on to a precious point in its relegation battle.
City remained second with 61 points from 30 games, having suffered another blow to its title hopes after a sobering first-leg 3-0 defeat at Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.
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West Ham moved out of the relegation zone for the first time since December and up to 17th with 29 points, one ahead of Nottingham Forest, which has a game in hand.
CITY LACKING CUTTING EDGE
Man City dominated possession in the opening stages but without coming close to creating a chance, a theme throughout the contest.
Haaland spurned the first real opportunity when he completely misjudged a header from Rayan Ait-Nouri’s cross, but Silva opened the scoring minutes later.
The City captain seemed to be aiming a cross for Haaland which instead floated over Hermansen and into the side netting.
The host equalised shortly afterwards through Mavropanos, who met Bowen’s corner with a towering header after Gianluigi Donnarumma missed his punch, leaving Guardiola – serving a touchline suspension in the stands – with his head in his hands.
Semenyo nearly restored City’s lead on the stroke of halftime, but placed his shot narrowly past the post with Hermansen beaten.
The visitor made a double change on the hour mark, introducing Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku, and it almost paid off immediately with Cherki playing Haaland , who was denied by Hermansen.
Tijjani Reijnders’ late free kick bounced off the crossbar as City huffed and puffed, but when the final chance fell to Guehi, he could not find the target
Published on Mar 15, 2026
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