Manchester City remain a point behind Liverpool in the Premier League title race after a Sergio Aguero penalty secured them a 1-0 victory over West Ham at the Etihad Stadium
Pep Guardiola's side were far from their fluent best against a dogged West Ham team on Manuel Pellegrini's first return to his former club
Andy Carroll came close to breaking the deadlock five minutes into the second half as Ederson made a fine save from point-blank range, before Felipe Anderson was penalised for bringing down substitute Bernardo Silva inside the penalty area just shy of the hour-mark
Aguero stepped up and struck his 18th Premier League goal of the season to the relief of the home fans, and ensure City remain on the coat-tails of Jurgen Klopp's side, who beat Watford 5-0 at Anfield on Wednesday night
 West Ham stay in 10th place
City began brightly and might have scored three times in the opening five minutes
 Kevin De Bruyne received Aguero's pass 25 yards out and fired a crisp right-footed shot a yard wide of the post before Riyad Mahrez skied David Silva's cross from close range
Moments later, De Bruyne was involved once more as his cut-back found David Silva, but the Spaniard's shot cannoned back off Lukasz Fabianski's right-hand post
At that point, it appeared as though it would be a long night for the Hammers but, with the impressive Ben Johnson making his senior debut at left-back, Pellegrini's side warmed to their task and were rarely troubled for the remainder of the opening period
Guardiola had cut a frustrated figure, with his angst largely directed towards Mahrez on his return to the starting line-up and the mood inside the Etihad was not helped by the news of Liverpool comfortably leading Watford
City had 11 attempts during the first-half but only one came on target - a shot from Mahrez that was straight at Fabianski - and they might have fallen behind when Carroll met substitute Manuel Lanzini's cross but Ederson flew to his right to keep out the striker's shot
Guardiola rolled the dice by introducing Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva, and the latter made the difference as a tired challenge from Felipe Anderson drew the penalty in front of referee Stuart Attwell
Aguero kept his cool to slot home his seventh goal in three home Premier League games as City controlled the final 30 minutes without threatening to stretch their advantage
While City dominated possession, Pellegrini will be delighted with how his West Ham side restricted their opponents to a one-goal victory courtesy of the penalty spot
After withstanding an early onslaught, the performance of Ryan Fredericks at right-back eventually forced Guardiola into a re-think as the dejected Leroy Sane was hauled off in place of Bernardo
Fredericks replaced Zabaleta in the second period against Fulham, and he hasn't looked back
 His final ball going forward still requires improvement, but he did everything that was asked of him defensively
With more determined displays like this, he could make the position his own in the final 10 games of the season
 "They made us work hard for the result but we played incredibly well
 We created a lot of chances, so it's amazing to understand how it was just 1-0 and in the last minute, anything can happen
"In the first five minutes, it could've been 2-0 easily
 The longer it stays at 0-0 or 1-0 the more impatient you become but in general we defended so well
"With the long balls to Carroll and to [Michail] Antonio we applied ourselves very well and created a lot of chances
 Unfortunately, we couldn't score more goals, after the 120 minutes against Chelsea, the team showed incredible spirit and we made a really good performance
" "We lost to a penalty that was not a penalty
 In the other box, maybe if Lanzini goes to the floor then maybe he can whistle
 They had other chances after the penalty, but we ultimately lost to it so I'm unhappy
"Apart from the first 10 minutes, we defended well
 I think if you review the match, Lukasz Fabianski only made one or two saves
 I think the penalty was the first risk that he had on his goal
"We defended well but we didn't look after the ball well enough
 Considering that we have eight players injured, and four players that we rested, of course I can't be very unhappy with the result
"Manchester City travel to face Bournemouth on Saturday at 3pm while West Ham host Newcastle later that day (kick-off: 5
30pm)
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