West Ham are out of the Asia Trophy after falling to a heavy defeat against tournament favourites Manchester City.
The Hammers, minus their two big summer signings Pablo Fornals and Sebastien Haller can consider themselves rather hard done by however having been denied what appeared to be a fairly nailed-on penalty whilst leading 1-0.Within five minutes City had turned the game around to lead 2-1 at the break, before adding two more after the break having introduced a number of first team stars to condemn United to defeat in their opening game of the Trophy.
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West Ham had got off to the perfect start when their invention and determination led to a penalty being awarded after Angelino handled the ball as Felipe Anderson drove into the penalty area.
Mark Noble, showing his usual calmness under pressure converted the spot kick, firing into Claudio Bravo's top left hand corner to give the Irons a deserved 25th minute lead.
Seven minutes later and referee Craig Pawson controversially refused to grant West Ham a second spot kick despite Ryan Fredericks, who enjoyed an excellent 45 minutes being clearly tripped.
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And with no VAR present during the tournament, the Hammers were forced to accept the errant official's decision.
That moment proved to be a major turning point in the game for having been denied the opportunity to double their advantage, the Hammers conceded an equaliser less than 60 seconds later as David Silva fired home from close range.
The game was turned completely on its head two minutes later when City were awarded a penalty after Angelo Ogbonna was deemd to have tripped an opponent - despite replays suggesting that the City man had left a leg trailing deliberately.
Lukas Nmecha made no mistake from the penalty spot and fired City into a 2-1 lead, an advantage they maintained until the half time interval.
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With both sides having made a host of changes at the break, City struck first in the second half to all but put the game beyond Manuel Pellegrini's team.
Shortly after Andriy Yarmolenko had seen a goalbound effort blocked Issa Diop conceded possession in the centre circle, allowing half time usbstitute Raheem Sterling to race through and finish calmly despite the attention of recent siging Roberto, who played the entire 90 minutes in goal.
And the favourites added another with 18 minutes of regulation time remaining when City took advantage of another lapse in concentration - this time from Carlos Sanchez - to make it 4-1, with Sterling applying the finishing touch once again.
The defeat, combined with Newcastle United's 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Wolves earlier in the day means the two Uniteds will meet on Saturday afternoon in the third-place play-off.
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West Ham Utd: Roberto, Fredericks (Zabaleta 62), Diop, Ogbonna (Reid 68), Johnson (Cresswell 62), Rice (Sanchez 46), Noble (Obiang 62), Wilshere (Snodgrass 46), Lanzini (Diangana 62), Anderson (Yarmolenko 46), Antonio (Hernandez 46).
Subs not used: Martin, Cullen.
Goals: Noble (pen 25).
Manchester City: Claudio Bravo, Danilo (Walker 63), Harwood-Bellis, Laporte (Stones 63), Angelino (Zinchenko 63), Rodri (Aleix Garcia 71), Silva (Sane 46), Doyle (Gundogan 63), Bernabe (De Bruyne 46), Poveda-Ocampo (Bernardo Silva 46), Nmecha (Sterling 46).
Subs not used: Grimshaw (GK), Touaizi, Pozo, Diounkou, Knight.
Goals: David Silva (33), Nmecha (pen 36), Sterling (59, 72).
Referee: Craig Pawson.
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