For Manchester City, this may look like two points dropped, but for everyone associated with West Ham, it is definitely a point gained. And if it hadn't have been for a non-existent offside to rule out a goal by Kevin Nolan in the first five minutes, it could have been even more.
While City remain unbeaten in the Premier League, they played with little of the verve or ambition that could have secured the four-goal win they needed to overhaul Manchester United at the summit.
Mario Balotelli, exhibiting none of the lethal finishes that earned him a nomination for this year’s Ballon d’Or, was especially ineffectual. The man who has not scored a league goal all season was substituted after 69 minutes and seemed far from happy, muttering behind the back of Mancini, who did not even look at his misfiring player.
It was a display redolent of their recent outings in Europe: plenty of pretty passing, but a conspicuously absent final ball. The challenge of defending the title is, it transpires, more arduous than earning it in the first place.
West Ham did not let the early perceived injustice of the imaginary offside deter them, thwarting City with a blend of obdurate defending and great energy in attack. Mohamed Diamé displayed exquisite touch, dropping his shoulder to evade Yaya Touré, before unleashing a gorgeous drive that all but skimmed the paint off Joe Hart’s crossbar.
Although City did more to set the game’s early tempo, West Ham were rattling their cages, as when Matt Jarvis swung in a superb ball that Yossi Benayoun met with an even better sidefooted volley, but again the ball sailed fractionally over, after a slight touch from Hart.
Frustration was writ large on the frame of Sam Allardyce, who motioned to kick an imaginary water bottle in his agitation. His men were playing demonstrably superior football, with Benayoun and the ever-threatening Andy Carroll exchanging neat passes in the build-up before the centre-forward shot wide.
The finest piece of technique of the evening however was from the big man Carroll himself, executing a perfect overhead kick that unfortunately took a deflection to go for a corner. What a way to score his first goal for the club that would have been?
Carlos Tévez was roundly applauded by West Ham fans, recalling how the Argentine saved the club from relegation in 2007. But there was no doubting his commitment to the City cause, as he delivered a sumptuous free-kick that Balotelli, stretching out his right leg, ought to have lashed into the net.
Gareth Barry, drafted into the City side at late notice after James Milner was injured in the warm-up, was also guilty of a glaring miss. It came after City had broken at speed from a corner but as Tévez squared the cross, Barry merely managed to hit the ball with his hand.
Manchester City threw everything at the West Ham defence, but the back four made up of O'Brien, Reid, Collins and McCartney stood strong against the heavy artillery and were able to steal the point from the champions.
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, O’Brien, Reid, Collins (Spence 84), McCartney, Noble, Diame (O’Neil 71), Benayoun, Nolan, Jarvis, Carroll (Cole 77).
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