Better The Devil You Know: Manuel Pellegrini’s Previous Encounters With West Ham
In Chilean veteran Manuel Pellegrini, West Ham United have appointed a manager that they have met many times before in the field of battle, on a three-year contract, but just what have been the results when the pair have faced off competitively in the past? And just how good a record does the gaffer have against the club he now finds himself managing? Join us today as we take a look.
West Ham United 1-3 Manchester City (October 2013)
Just a few months into his title-winning first season in English football, the South American took his City team, who would go onto score the most goals of any club in England ever in all competitions for a single season, to meet with Sam Allardyce’s West Ham.
In trademark style, the Citizens left with a convincing victory to their name, a Sergio Aguero double and David Silva strike rendering a stylish goal from Ricardo Vaz Te useless, meaning the Pellegrini’s men left with the three points.
Manchester City 6-0 West Ham United (January 2014)
In the second if four clashes of the pairing during the 2013/2014 term, they went head-to-head in the semi-finals of the English League Cup the first leg of which was to be played out at the Etihad Stadium.
This result and performance epitomised what Pellegrini was all about in his first term wooing English fans, an Alvaro Negredo hat-trick, Yaya Toure effort and Edin Dzeko brace gave Blue Moon a six-goal advantage heading into the second leg.
West Ham United 0-3 Manchester City (January 2014)
That very second leg would be held at the Boleyn Ground 13 days later, where a record-low crowd of just 13,000-odd turned out to watch the Hammers try to stage a miracle comeback against Pellegrini’s world-beaters.
Those faint, faint hopes were quashed early on by Negredo and Aguero goals, the Spaniard adding another in the second period to make it 0-3 and give his team a remarkable nine-goal aggerate victory, unsurprisingly, they went on to win the competition, comfortably defeating Sunderland in the final to deliver the ex-Chile International his first major honour in Europe.
Manchester City 2-0 West Ham United (May 2014)
The fourth and final time there was an encounter between the Hammers and the Citizens that term cane on the final day, with Allardyce’s men already mathematically safe after a tricky campaign, the home side needing three points at the Etihad to secure the title, it was in their hands.
City claimed the victory they needed and with relative ease too, a strike either side of half-time from Samir Nasri and Vincent Kompany securing a second PL crown in the space of three years, with the Hammers unable to stand in the way of Pellegrini becoming the first non-European gaffer to lift the trophy.
West Ham United 2-1 Manchester City (October 2014)
Fresh from conceding 14 goals against Pellegrini’s Blue Moon last season and only netting one in reply, Allardyce’s men were out for revenge the next time they came to East London, and this, they would get.
Morgan Amalfitano, off a stunning Enner Valencia assist, broke the deadlock for the hosts early on, before new signing and striker Diafra Sakho continued his run of scoring in consecutive matches, heading past Joe Hart to make the score 2-0, a special Silva reply wasn’t enough for the visitors to get back into it and the Irons caused an upset en-route to being fourth at Christmas.
Manchester City 2-0 West Ham United (April 2015)
When the two teams gathered for the reverse fixture six months down the line, things were very different for Pellegrini and Allardyce as the former was hunting Chelsea down for the title and the latter had fallen away into mid-table obscurity.
The result went as expected with the Sky Blues picking up a second consecutive 2-0 home league win over the Hammers via a James Collins own-goal and Aguero strike, though this time around, City were eventually unsuccessful in their bid to win the league, for the second season in succession.
Manchester City 1-2 West Ham United (September 2015)
A change of manager in East London saw Pellegrini greeted by a new opponent in the dugout at the Etihad in September 2016 in the form of Slaven Bilic, whose Irons team had already overcome Arsenal and Liverpool away from home in the early part of the season.
The South American was about to lose his 100% home record against West ham as a manager when Blues loanee Victor Moses put the away team ahead early on, Sakho doubling that advantage before the break and all the Citizens could claw back after that was a solitary Kevin De Bruyne consolation, losing a long-standing unbeaten home record.
West Ham United 2-2 Manchester City (January 2016)
With West Ham and Man City contesting a place in the top four in early 2016, Pellegrini would have been keen for redemption in his and the Manchester club’s final visit to Upton Park, instead the evenly-matched opponents produced a real classic.
A brace from the before-mentioned Valencia either side of an Aguero spot-kick gave West Ham a narrow lead in the second half, but Aguero would strike again, as he often does when facing the boys in Claret & Blue, meaning the scoreline ended 2-2 in a match that had everything, the ex-Real Madrid gaffer’s men eventually pipped Bilic’s to fourth place in his last season, lifting the League Cup in the process.
In total, Pellegrini has come up against West Ham United eight times as a manager, five of which he has won, two of which he has lost and one of which he has drawn, a mightily impressive record against the East Londoners. The Chilean has been a thorn in the Hammers side many times down the years, however, it’s better to appoint the Devil you know, than the evil you don’t.
