City are still top but their manager Manuel Pellegrini was in a terrible mood on Saturday night having lost David Silva in the warm-up and then seen his side concede two soft goals in the opening half-hour.
It wasn't the bounceback desired from their midweek Champions League disappointment against Juventus.
In contrast, Hammers boss Slaven Bilic was super-bubbly, very apt given the songs coming from the away end at full-time, along with “We're going to win the League”.
'We knew we had to run like crazy, score goals and be lucky when needed. And we did it,' said Bilic.
'This Manchester City team is the best in the league. That is why I am so proud of our team performance. Not only fighting-wise, but also playing-wise.'
Fortune was on West Ham's side. City had 27 shots on goal but could only beat the visitors' outstanding goalkeeper Adrian once.
And having already been without skipper Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Samir Nasri, losing Silva and then Eliaquim Mangala at half-time was a severe blow even though they kept piling on the pressure.
Not that there will be sympathy for City in many quarters. They wheeled out Kevin De Bruyne and Nicolas Otamendi at a combined price tag of £86million for their first starts, only for those players to find themselves 2-0 down before they could work out their roles in the team.
'It has been a difficult week,' grimaced a curt Pellegrini. 'I told the players that West Ham would be hard opponents but we conceded two easy goals – we must be more concentrated.'
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