Man City 3-0 West Ham LIVE – Haaland at the double as City go top

Guardiola: “We will be there. If they follow me, we will be there. But we have to improve.

“I know the level in Europe, I know the level in the Premier League, I know Arsenal, I know the other teams and how tough they are.

“It’s not enough. The spirit is there. We didn’t have that last season. The spirit, the aggression, the hunger, all these attributes that they need.

“It’s not about the highlights, the big picture, how good the actions are. There is something that comes from inside that we recover from the Club World Cup in the States.

“The next step, hopefully some players like Rodri are back, but there are many, many things we have to do better.

“But we cannot forget Jeremy (Doku) is not here, Kovacic is not here, Rodri is not here, Omar Marmoush is not here, Rayan Ait-Nouri is not here, he didn’t play much but we need him. Nico O’Reilly plays every three days for 90 minutes.

“We have four or five players from the academy on the bench. We need them back.”

“We were not in the right places to create more chances, to be more solid.

“Second half, we made a step up. We played not good but a little bit better I would say but we are not doing the right process to be more consistent.

“We were not in the right places and we have to come back to play the way that defined the team for many, many years.”

“I want to be honest to my players. I’m happy. Merry Christmas to everyone. But it will not be enough if we don’t improve. It will not be enough.”

Man City might have won 3-0 this afternoon but Pep Guardiola has just warned his side that they still have a lot of improving to do.

“Defensively we are improving.

“With the ball, we are away (from the standard required). We are away from what we have to do.

“The way you attack depends on the way the opponent defends. You have to be in the right spots and the right positions to be more fluid. And we were not that way.

“I’m happy. We are up there in the Champions League, semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

“But the way we play with the ball, we have to improve otherwise it will not be enough in March or April to arrive to be contenders to win the title.”

Nuno Espirito Santo on another defeat for West Ham: “We are concerned about the situation that we’re in. It will require a lot of improvement from ourselves.”

Man City’s Tijjani Reijnders speaking to Sky Sports after today’s win: “We will keep the pressure on them [Arsenal]. They are above us, not now but before, we have to keep the pressure on.

“We all have to do that. We have to show each game that we have the quality and play without fear. We did that very well today.”

Job done for City who move top of the Premier League table, albeit with Arsenal playing in a couple of hours time.

A good performance from the hosts and a relatively routine win. Disappointing for West Ham, but of course their season will not be defined by days like today.

Haaland has an opportunity to complete his hat trick at the death but it goes begging.

Played through by Mukasa, he beats Areola but does not find the net.

Five minutes of time added on at the end.

The result has already been out of question for some time now.

Foden fires an effort at the top corner.

However Areola reacts well top tip over the bar and behind for a corner.

Paqueta, Summerville, Fernandes and Potts are taken off.

Soucek, Mavropanos, Rodriguez and Wilson are sent on.

Summerville goes close with an effort as West Ham continue on.

Donnarumma denies him with a good stop.

City’s captain is withdrawn with the three points secured.

Silva is replaced by Mukasa.

Game over now and City will move top of the league for a few hours at least.

Savinho is in behind and squares for Lewis who in turn squares it for Haaland and the Norwegian fires home.

Cherki, Reijnders ans Gonzalez make way for Savinho, Lewis and Khusanov.

With the changes, Nunes moves into midfield from rightback.

Youngster Scarles is injured and unable to continue for the visitors.

Mayers is on to replace him.

The visitors again break forward and a brilliant Paqueta pass sets Bowen free again.

The Englishman charges through but drags wide again.

West Han get forward and create their best chance so far.

Bowen is in behind and takes the ball round Donnarumma. However he cannot find the righr finish from a tight angle.

Foden wins a free-kick just outside the area.

Cherki steps up and dinks to an unmarked Dias at the back post. With space and time, he should do better but heads straight at the goalkeeper.

Donnarumma is tested for the first time this afternoon.

The shot comes from Potts but it does not better the Italian shotstopper.

Reijnders takes the kick off for the hosts.

We are back underway in the second half!

That was perhaps as straightforward as it gets for City in the Premier League. Two goals to the good and they have barely got going.

West Ham have not looked up for this one and their supporters will be truly disappointed. A lack of fight and intensity that cannot be excused for.

Two minutes of time have been added on.

The game has slowed down a touch since the second goal.

Bowen is shown a yellow card for complaints to the referee.

Frustrations growing for the West Ham captain.