Manchester City played like they did at the start of the season and as a result Pep Guardiola's side ran through the West Ham defence to cruise into the fourth round of the FA Cup. Tasting the oldest football tournament in the world for the first time, Guardiola was left with one that will linger for a long time after his team put on an attacking show to remember.
FA Cup third round schedule and fixtures
David Silva was the main man for Manchester City, running the show for the away side, while scoring a goal as well in a 5-0 thumping of West Ham at the London Stadium.
Yaya Toure opened the scoring, firing from the penalty spot after Pablo Zabaleta went under the challenge of Angelo Ogbonna, before a Havard Nordtveit own goal and a strike from Silva in the space of two minutes just before halftime ended the game as a contest.
Sergio Aguero, early in the second half, and John Stones, late in the game, netted to give City a convincing win.
"In the last month and a half or two months, we were not able to make narrow passes and our game was unpredictable, in the sense that the ball was always up and down, up and down," Guardiola said. "(In this game) we controlled a bit more, through the passes. The pitch, the stadium, helped us in that sense.
"It looks like it's bigger. It's an impression. Here in England, the stadiums are close, it looks like the space is smaller, the opponent arrives quicker. (At the London Stadium) it looks like you have more time."
After a difficult few weeks, this result and the manner of it was welcome relief for Guardiola, who will now hope to take this form into the Premier League, where his City side are currently in fourth, seven points off leaders Chelsea.
"It's always important to win away," Guardiola added. "It's not easy and at West Ham it was difficult but hopefully this will help our players to believe they are good enough.
"All the season they have run a lot and will fight a lot and sometimes they have played good. They have to believe they are good enough to compete with every team."
For Slaven Bilic, this was another scathing loss to take in and move on from. Having suffered a few of these this season, the manager needs to tighten up that West Ham defence if they are to steer clear of relegation worries.
