Manchester City Lights Up the Hammers

They obviously don't celebrate Thanksgiving in England, so this match will have to do.

That's because Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side carved up West Ham United -- in London, no less -- like the turkey that squad is.

The match's actual turning point was kickoff, but scoreboard purists would point to the 34th minute and call the rest of the day what Seinfeld called itself:

A show about nothing.

 

It only took 11 minutes for the Hammers' ultimate fate to unfold.

That's when Raheem Sterling's cross was deflected off Arthur Masuaku and ended up in David Silva's path. The Spaniard then fired home past goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski:

 

Believe it or not, that strike seemed to wake West Ham up, as they recalled for a fleeting instant that they're in the Premiership.

However, their finishing is still down in the Championship.

 

Sterling made them regret the wasted chances at the 19-minute mark.

Leroy Sané was faster than Pablo Zabaleta and drove the ball to Sterling for an open-net tap-in:

 

Then, in the 34th, Sterling assisted another teammate.

Dude picked up Sané for a cross. The German winger showed class and added the Citizens' third from close-range:

 

Both teams went to the break with the feeling that the game was already done.

 

West Ham was nothing if not consistent as the second half got underway.

In other words, poor finishing from Antonio and Javier Hernández did their bit to extend the trend.

There was still time for the Citizens to score more goals, though. It did take a generous ref's assessment of stoppage time -- as in the 94th minute -- for Sané to shoot another fish in a barrel from close range:

 

This fish, however, knows how to finish:

 

After the Hammers' poor performance, it was no doubt joined by manager Manuel Pellegrini, who surely knows what it means when they say:

You drink to remember; you drink to forget.

In the wake of this dismantling, he'd better start a tab.