Premier League: Manchester City Win Big Against West Ham

West Ham had a humiliating 5-0 home defeat to Manchester City in season's opening match as Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick for the defending champions with Rodri Hernandez who was signed for £63 million from Atletico Madrid making his debut appearance.

Hammers could not match the brilliance of the opponents who dominated and had better scoring chances during a game that saw the visual assistance referee play a vital role in the decision making of the officiating referee.

Gabriel Jesus flicked the ball into the goal to give City the lead after Kyle Walker found him with a pass in the box and Sterling doubled the lead from Kevin De Bruyne's pass after the Belgian broke through Hammer's defense.

Sterling scored his 50th goal after Mahrez set him up for the finishing with a cross and calmly controlled the ball in the box and lob it over Fabianski for the third goal. Sergio Aguero added in the fourth after retaking a penalty after VAR ruled against Fabianski for not staying on the lane before the kick.

Sterling became the 15th player ever to score a hat-trick in a Premier League match after scoring the fifth goal in injury time with an assist from Riyadh Mahrez.

City, have now for nine years won all opening match played and will overtake Liverpool to take the top spot of the table on goal difference.

Speaking after the match, Sterling admitted VAR played a crucial role and acknowledged that it changed their orientation of wanting a "goal to stand". 

"It's a bit difficult during the game because you want your goal to stand. but at the end of the day, so long as the decisions are right, that's all that matters," Sterling said.

That was true as Gabriel Jesus could have scored a brace but the device ruled out his goal for being in offside positioning when Sterling set him off for a goal in the 54th minutes.