West Ham delivered a disciplined defensive performance to secure a valuable point against Manchester City last weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite managing just one shot compared to City\u2019s 21, the Hammers held on for a 1\u20131 draw at the London Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Joe Cole believes Nuno Espirito Santo had fortune on his side in his tactical battle with Pep Guardiola. According to Cole, West Ham\u2019s result was partly influenced by Crysencio Summerville\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nuno has recently shown flexibility in his tactics, though he has consistently relied on a back four\u2014whether in a 4-4-2, 4-3-3, or 4-2-3-1 formation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cole suggested that Summerville\u2019s calf injury forced a change, leading Nuno to deploy a five-man defense against City. While many praised the adjustment, Cole viewed it as a stroke of luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained that losing Summerville, arguably the team\u2019s best player, changed Nuno\u2019s approach. If the winger had been fit, Nuno likely would have stuck with a four-man defense, maintaining momentum\u2014but that might have played into City\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, the injury prompted a rethink, with Nuno adding an extra center-back. This decision helped West Ham contain Erling Haaland more effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless of how it came about, West Ham supporters were pleased with the result and will be hoping it provides momentum heading into their clash with Aston Villa on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Cole suggests that Crysencio Summerville\u2019s injury ended up working in West Ham\u2019s favor against Manchester City\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[853,42],"class_list":{"0":"post-4612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-crysencio","9":"tag-west-ham"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/117785.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4614,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions\/4614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}