Manchester City on Sunday managed to eke out a 2-1 win over West Ham United and Sky Blues midfielder Fabian Delph admitted the Hammers made life difficult for the Premier League leaders by parking the bus at the Etihad Stadium.
“It was difficult, teams seem to come here and get every man behind the ball, not interested in anything but parking the bus,” Delph was quoted as saying by the club website.
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Angelo Ogbonna had headed the visitors into a shock lead on the stroke of half-time but City responded via Nicolas Otamendi to equalise proceedings. David Silva would then score an acrobatic volley late in the tie to give City a record-equalling 13 league win in a row.
“It has happened a few times but we have players like David Silva in the team, so we knew if we kept going we’d get our chances,” the midfielder, who has been deputising at left-back this season, added.
The Sky Blues can script Premier League history at Old Trafford next week when they lock horns with second-placed Manchester United by registering what would be a record 14th straight league win – but Delph insisted no-one at the club was getting carried away.
“It would be nice to break the record at Old Trafford. We want to win the derby but we are taking it each game at a time,” the 28-year-old stressed as he continued, “We are not thinking about what has happened in the past or looking too far into the future”.
After 15 games played, Pep Guardiola’s side are on top of the league with a tally of 43 points while derby-rivals United and defending champions Chelsea trail the leaders by eight and 11 points, respectively.