Man City 3 West Ham 1

City moved to within three points of the league leaders as two goals from former West Ham hero Carlos Tevez helped overcome the Hammers

Teams

Man City: Given, Zabaleta, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, W-Phillips, De Jong, Barry, Petrov, Tevez, Bellamy.
Goal: Tevez 5

West Ham: Green, Faubert, Da Costa, Tomkins, Ilunga, Diamanti, Kovac, Parker, Noble, Jimenez, Cole.

Ref: C Foy

Pre-match

The changes have been wrung and and Zabaleta takes over from Micah Richards at right back. With the rest of the defensive 5 the same Bellemy and Tevez start up front for the Citizens supported by Wright-Phillips on the right and on the left Petrov, making his first Premier League start of the season. Behind them 'Pitbull' De Jong anchors the midfield with Barry in a slightly more attacking role.

The Game

The match got off to a frantic start with City bossing the game pushing forward looking for an opening.

Bellemy and Tevez looked too much for the Hammers defence to handle and that was compounded when former West Ham striker Carlos Tevez gave City a fifth minute lead in this Premier League clash.

The Argentinian forward tapped in unmarked following great work from the returning Martin Petrov after City had had the better of the opening exchanges with Shaun Wright-Philips to the fore. He has 2 more chances to settle the game but puts them both over after great work involving our attacking quartet.

After Wright-Phillips gave away a cheap free kick West Ham scored a fortunate goal with the ball deflecting off a player into the path of Carlton Cole who showed quick feet from close range.

Wayne Bridge had a good chance to double the lead but his long-range effort was well saved by Robert Green.

West Ham should have got a goal back at Eastlands as Alessandro Diamanti saw his shot tipped around the post.

Substitute James Tomkins also had a chance from a Mark Noble corner but saw his header ricochet off Joleon Lescott.

Man on a mission Martin Petrov then curled in a free-kick on 32 min before Tevez headed in his second on 61. West Ham could feel aggrieved to have had their 2nd goal disallowed after Lescott showed to much of the ball to Cole, but any level headed Hammers fan would agree that they caould have lost by a much larger margin.


Match Facts:

Man City 3 West Ham 1 L

Man City: Given, Zabaleta, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, W-Phillips (Santa Cruz 80), De Jong, Barry, Petrov, Tevez, Bellamy.
Goal: Tevez 5, 61, Petrov 32

West Ham: Green, Faubert, Da Costa, Tomkins, Ilunga, Diamanti, Kovac (Stanislas 71), Parker, Noble, Jimenez (Hines 71), Cole.
Goal: Cole 24

Ref: C Foy

Verdict

A game West Ham side gave us a scare and had 2 good spells during the game and a goal wrongly disallowed. City were a class above for most of the 90 minutes however and should have scored at least 5 goals. With a game in hand they certainly look like top 4 material and .... well no we'll just leave it there.... for now.