(West Ham win 5-3 on penalties)

West Ham United’s start to the season just got better as they booked their place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals with a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory over holders Manchester City at London Stadium.

Following a blank yet busy 90 minutes, substitute Phil Foden crucially missed from the spot, while the Hammers convincingly converted all five of their kicks to inflict City’s first defeat in the competition since they lost to neighbours, Manchester United, a seemingly eternal 1,827 days ago.

Already sitting fourth in the Premier League and topping Group H in the Europa League, the Hammers now turned their attentions to the Carabao Cup and, following Sunday’s superb victory over Tottenham Hotspur, David Moyes made eight changes with only Ben Johnson, Aaron Cresswell and Tomáš Souček retaining their shirts.

West Ham had upset the odds with victory at Old Trafford in the third round and they now set about eliminating the Blue half of Manchester as Mark Noble – making his 534th appearance in claret and blue – forced the first save of the evening when he let fly with a scorching 20-yarder that Zack Steffen beat down to safety as the 20-minute mark approached.

Also fighting on three fronts, City had kicked off sitting one place above the Hammers in the league and in second in their Champions League group and, following Saturday’s 4-1 win at Brighton & Hove Albion, Pep Guardiola made nine changes with only Kyle Walker and Ikay Gündogan keeping their places.

But that still meant that the Spaniard – whose side hit Wycombe Wanderers for six in the previous round - could name the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez in his starting line-up.

Indeed, both Sterling and Mahrez had prodded and probed their way around the Hammers area without success during the opening exchanges but it was not until the 25th minute, when man-of-the-match Alphonse Areola was called into serious action, diverting Cole Palmer’s low 20-yarder aside with his outstretched right foot.

Gündogan then sliced high and wide before Mahrez sent an angled shot for a throw-in in an indication that the opening 45 minutes were destined to finish goalless and, indeed that was confirmed when Nathan Aké headed behind in the closing moments of a barren first half.

Just after the restart, returning Arthur Masuaku advanced from his left-wing role before shooting narrowly over from 15 yards while City – who had replaced Walker with João Cancelo at the break – then saw Gündogan break in behind the Hammers defence ahead of clipping his tightly-angled effort beyond the far post.

On 55 minutes, the home fans in the sell-out crowd thought their East End boys had taken the lead, when Masuaku’s angled effort was beaten away by Steffen into the path of Andriy Yarmolenko but the Ukrainian’s point-blank shot was charged down by compatriot Oleksandr Zinchenko.

That escape was the catalyst for relieved City to crank up the pressure as both Sterling and then De Bruyne forced Areola into low stops at the base of his right-hand post but the French international saved his best for John Stones, who saw his powerful header athletically and acrobatically turned aside.

Sensing the need to respond at the other end, Moyes made a triple substitution on the hour as Jarrod Bowen, Saïd Benrahma and Pablo Fornals replaced Nikola Vlašić, Masuaku and Yarmolenko and, within seconds, the Hammers had won their first corner, albeit Steffen comfortably punched Cresswell’s cross high into the dark Stratford skies.

With 20 minutes remaining, Lanzini’s 20-yarder was deflected behind before Foden was introduced at the expense of Mahrez and the City substitute wasted no time prodding to Gündogan, whose low shot cannoned off Areola’s legs.

Gabriel Jesus also came on for Palmer, while fit-again Vladimír Coufal replaced Lanzini and, after seasoned penalty-taker De Bruyne curiously retired in place of Jack Grealish, Zinchenko then saw Areola brilliant tip his dipping 20-yarder onto the roof of the Hammers net before Souček spooned over the angle to send a goalless 90 minutes into a penalty shoot-out.

Skipper Noble led the way by burying the nightmare of his last-gasp 12-yard miss against Manchester United last month before Foden crucially curled City’s first spot-kick wide of the right-hand upright.

Bowen, Cancelo, Craig Dawson, Jesus, Cresswell and Jack Grealish all then converted leaving Benrahma with the decisive kick.

Cool as you like, the Algerian international sent the London Stadium decibel level onto stratospheric scales with his no-nonsense penalty that made it 5-3 to both end City’s five-year domination of the competition, while also booking the Hammers place in the quarter-final draw.

West Ham: Areola, Johnson, Cresswell, Diop, Dawson, Souček, Noble, Vlašič (Benrahma 62), Masuaku (Fornals 62), Lanzini (Coufal 82), Yarmolenko (Bowen 62), Unused subs: Randolph, Zouma, Ashby, Chesters, Baptiste.

City: Steffen, Walker (Cancelo h/t), Zinchenko, Stones, Aké, Gündogan, De Bruyne (Grealish 83),, Fernandinho, Palmer (Jesus 76), Mahrez (Foden 71), Sterling. Unused subs: Carson, Dias, Laporte, Rodri, Edozie.

Referee: Jonathan Moss