James Ward-Prowse headed the Hammers in front from Vladimir Coufal’s cross in the first half, but Jeremy Doku levelled within seconds of the restart for his first goal since a £55million move from Rennes.
Moyes’ side went close through Michail Antonio, Emerson and Kurt Zouma, with Ederson in goal producing a string of fine saves, but Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland struck in the final 15 minutes to seal a 3-1 win for City’s European champions close as the Hammers suffered their first defeat of the season.
“Our other games have had a lot similarities,” said Moyes.
“Chelsea missed a penalty kick, then Mick [Antonio] breaks through and scores to make it 2-1. Small margins in football. To be fair, the early season ones have gone for us.
“Today we played against a top team and we’ve done an OK job. Bits l liked, bits of it I didn’t like. But overall I have to say the players did a brilliant job.
“We tried to make it difficult, we always do against City. I think you have to be really clinical and also really clinical defensively as well. You can’t afford to make many mistakes.
“I thought the first goal came at a bad time. I thought their second goal was a mistake and we should have dealt with that much better. It changed the game really at that point.”
Opposite number Pep Guardiola hailed his side after a fifth successive victory.
“I would say West Ham had more chances in the second half than the first,” he said.
“We created against a team that defends so deep and really, really well. We created a lot of chances in the 90 minutes.
“I’m so proud of the team. It’s great win for us, for the problems (injuries) we have in the squad. It doesn’t matter, the guys always respond well.
“We spoke at half-time, don’t be affected by the result because you’re playing really, really good in the first half.
“In the second half we were lucky to start and score a goal immediately, we had to be patient then and we had our chances, they had their chances. But really, really good in the way we played.”
Guardiola praised the impact of 21-year-old Doku, who joined in the final week of the August transfer window and made his debut against Fulham before the international break.
The City boss watched that game remotely from Barcelona whilst he recovered from back surgery, but since returning to Manchester has been impressed by the progress the Belgium international has made following the 5-1 win against Marco Silva’s side.
“I was in Barcelona, I had the feeling he played a little bit shy (against Fulham),” added Guardiola.
“He’d just arrived, had two or three days training, with a team that won the Treble. Maybe he was a little bit in this way.
“But today, no. (I said) use your quality as a winger. One against one, one against two; go. If you don’t have the feeling, pass back to Josko (Gvardiol) and play again.
“Today was from the first minute incredible, aggressive, great determination, arrived many times to the byline. Many, may good things he’s done. Really, really pleased. We thought the quality was there and today he started to prove it.
“When you buy a young player like him for many years (contract), we have to be patient. We cannot expect, I didn’t expect the second game for City to play like he did today. The way he played today, I don’t remember from a long time ago something like that.
“There are processes that he has to learn. Always we are there to help him. At Manchester City, every player has to be (himself). All the players here have a lot of quality.”
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