Pep Guardiola may have been in the stands serving a touchline ban, but his side immediately controlled possession and put the hosts under pressure, with Jarrod Bowen being forced to challenge Rayan Ait-Nouri in his own box.
Even with City completely dictating the game’s tempo, they were unable to test Mads Hermansen with the men in claret and blue defending resolutely, and Omar Marmoush guiding a free-kick harmlessly wide.
The first shot on target eventually came in the 31st minute and was more than worth the wait for the visitors, with Bernardo Silva collecting Marmoush’s pass before gloriously dinking the ball over Hermansen and inside the far post.
West Ham responded well to the setback and equalised just four minutes later, as Konstantinos Mavropanos rose to meet Bowen’s corner with a towering header that bounced off the crossbar and over the line.
Erling Haaland squared the ball to give Antoine Semenyo an opportunity to reinstate the Cityzens’ lead before the break, but he guided the ball marginally wide.
Marmoush dragged a shot wide shortly after the restart, but Guardiola’s men soon found themselves struggling to break down Nuno Espirito Santo’s valiant West Ham side again.
Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku were introduced on the hour mark, and the former soon found Haaland for the chance the striker would have been craving, but Hermansen did brilliantly to tip the ball wide.
An Abdukodir Khusanov header and a Doku strike were both sent over the crossbar before Mavropanos did brilliantly to slide in front of Matheus Nunes’ effort.
Haaland then scuffed a shot wide before Phil Foden and Tijjani Reijnders became the latest visiting substitutes to be called upon.
They couldn’t find a way through, though, as Hermansen got the finest of touches on Reijnders’ free-kick to tip the ball onto the crossbar, then saved Nico O’Reilly’s header.
Mavropanos topped off a superb performance by bravely blocking Haaland’s volley and another O'Reilly effort, while Marc Guehi fired over as City were forced to settle for back-to-back league draws, denting their title aspirations as they now sit nine points behind Arsenal with a game in hand.
The point does much more for West Ham, who currently sit outside the relegation zone having lost just one of their last seven matches across all competitions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Konstantinos Mavropanos (West Ham)
