City had just one point to show from their
first three road trips of the current campaign but reversed that trend
with a professional performance at Upton Park that lifted them to fourth
in the table.
Aguero opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a
cool finish and his second-half header looked to have sealed all three
points for Manuel Pellegrini's side.
Ricardo Vaz Te pulled a goal
back for West Ham with an outrageous bicycle kick but it was not enough
as David Silva wrapped up the points for City late on.
The
result means the Manchester side have now won 29 of the 31 Premier
League matches in which Aguero has scored, with the other two ending in
draws.
Pellegrini made five changes to his side, which included
an entirely different back four - made up of Micah Richards, Javi
Garcia, Matija Nastasic and Gael Clichy - while, unsurprisingly, West
Ham were unchanged following their 3-0 win at Tottenham.
After a
bright start, City fired a warning shot in the 15th minute when Alvaro
Negredo was denied by a superb Winston Reid tackle.
And just a
few moments later they had the lead when Fernandinho's seemingly
innocuous ball split the defence and was coolly slotted home by Aguero. Negredo's dummy fooled West Ham's defenders and Aguero stole in, scoring with ease.
The
Argentine had two more attempts in the following five minutes, only for
West Ham goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to deny him on both occasions.
West
Ham's best chance of the first half was disappointingly wasted, as Mark
Noble's cross was mis-kicked by Vaz Te, while Yaya Toure forced
Jaaskelainen into a good stop on the stroke of half-time.
And they were soon made to pay. The visitors doubled their advantage six minutes after the break as Aguero
made a mockery of poor West Ham defending, the Argentina striker
nodding home unmarked at the near post from Silva's corner for his first
headed Premier League goal.
City's second sparked West Ham into life, though, and goalkeeper Joe Hart had to be alert to deny Mo Diame before Vaz Te gave the hosts a lifeline with a stunning bicycle kick following Ravel Morrison's lofted ball.
City's
response was almost immediate as Negredo saw his shot from an acute
angle hit the underside of the crossbar and bounce away to safety, while
the end-to-end action continued as Diame tested Hart with a powerful
effort before Aguero's curling strike was beaten away by Jaaskelainen.
The game was well balanced but, after a lull, City killed the hosts off, with Aguero's backheel allowing Silva the time to curl home the third, completing a welcome win for Pellegrini.
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