West Ham 1-3 Man City: Erling Haaland scores second hat-trick in eight days as Pep Guardiola’s men maintain 100% start to the season

Loose balls in midfield and quick 70-yard runs to stop counterattacks. Maybe Erling Haaland is becoming Pep Guardiola’s complete player after all. Or at least, what his detractors expect from a Pep Guardiola player.

It was one of his finest nights in a Manchester City shirt. Not so much the goals – he scores at any time, anywhere – but a touch, a glance. For a time, the most phenomenal goalscorer in world football had a stranglehold on east London.

Haaland has revealed he has never felt fitter, something that was thwarted by complaints of muscle fatigue behind the scenes just a few weeks ago, and now there is more evidence of that. A second hat-trick in eight days. Few have questioned whether he fits into a Guardiola team these days. Funny, that.

There were times when City didn’t always see the Norwegian. He ran briskly through midfield to win back possession, sparking a sharp counter-attack that Jack Grealish could have finished. Then a sprint with Michail Antonio, from a disorganised City corner, to thwart West Ham’s attempt at a counter-attack, putting his opposition number nine into touch. He was almost the last man.

Do these two performances not give him the confidence that the purity of his first two halves gives him, which places him above all his peers? Perhaps not, the two facets of his performance probably go hand in hand.

All three goals, scored in the 10th, 30th and 83rd minutes, were the result of a precise first control. The ball was pushed back in front of him to inflict maximum damage. The first, launched between the two central defenders by Bernardo Silva, was deflected into the opposite corner by Alphonse Areola. The second, from an unselfish square pass by Rico Lewis, was propelled into the roof of the West Ham net with unstoppable devastation. The third, to seal the points, was cheekily missed.

Seven goals in three Premier League games. The long summer has clearly done him some good. But he was scoring a lot last year and there were still lingering doubts about his performances. So the difference is in how those numbers are achieved, in the liveliness and certainty of it all, and in what he does elsewhere on the pitch.

His instinctive kick from outside the box to secure his hat-trick last week against Ipswich Town – only his fifth from more than 18 yards for City – showed renewed arrogance. His running against West Ham showed renewed vigour. When he receives forward passes, he doesn’t run too much to give himself more room to manoeuvre. The things he’s working on are really working.

And that is undoubtedly a boost for those who follow him. City had to fight against West Ham – and at times seemed to emulate Arsenal by dropping points – but when they controlled the game, which was most of the time, it seemed as if there was only one team in play.

West Ham received encouragement from both themselves and City. Ruben Dias scored an own goal between Haaland’s first-half efforts, a 19th-minute equaliser that owed much to Mateo Kovacic winning the ball with too much abandon.

Kovacic admitted his eagerness to get involved higher up the pitch is hampering him when replacing Rodri and that was clear when Lucas Paqueta – who would have been wearing City’s nostalgic 1999 shirt had there not been an FA investigation – slipped Jarrod Bowen down the right and his cross was deflected in by Dias.

West Ham unsettled City from the start and for about 20 minutes after the break. Mohammed Kudus hit the post, as a rejuvenated Kevin De Bruyne had done earlier, and Bowen caused all sorts of problems for Josko Gvardiol down the right flank.

Julen Lopetegui has found something after a summer of intense recruitment and the high-octane nature of his innovative ideas should see teams leave this place bewildered. Chelsea and Manchester United will come here in the next couple of months and will not be happy about the prospect.

The visitors were a little calmer. Guardiola praised Lopetegui as West Ham galloped into empty areas of midfield, sacrificing Jeremy Doku for Ilkay Gundogan in a bid to regain control. By providing extra support for Kovacic, with Silva slowing the play down the wings, City looked to calm things down.

Lukasz Fabianski, who came on at half-time for Areola, stopped a pass from Silva when Dias could have scored at the far post. Max Kilman headed in a corner from Bowen that went wide. Tomas Soucek fumbled the ball wide. Noel Gallagher, taking his time counting his money, wriggled in the posh stands. Guardiola flailed his limbs.

They needn’t have worried. There were seven minutes left to play and Haaland was in front again. With a pass from Matheus Nunes under his spell, eyes glazed over and Fabianski could do nothing but yield to the pass over his flailing body. If City may not be at their best yet, the main man leading them certainly is.