Man City 3-0 West Ham: Elano brace as City turn on the style

Thaksin Shinawatra should watch Manchester City more often if this is how their players respond when the big boss comes to town.

On his first visit to Eastlands for four months, City's under-fire chairman watched his side produce an inspired display to give Mark Hughes a first Premier League win since taking charge and lift the recent gloom that has engulfed the club.

City may not be able to access Shinawatra's £800million fortune due to the corruption charges he faces in his native Thailand, but if they can continue to play with such style and confidence, their fans will not care.

Admittedly, City were up against a woeful West Ham side who offered little in the way of resistance, but there was enough in their display to suggest they have what it takes to progress to the next level under Hughes.

That level is likely to be top-10 at best, despite Shinawatra's belief they can one day reach the Champions League, but right now their long-suffering fans would surely take that given the club's off-field travails.

City's triumphant day was marred by a worrying injury to skipper Micah Richards, who was knocked unconscious for several minutes following a second-half clash of heads with team-mate Tal Ben Haim.

Richards required oxygen and was taken from the field on a stretcher, from where he was transferred to hospital.

Hughes said afterwards that the 19-year-old defender had regained consciousness but would be monitored for a couple of days.

Vincent Kompany, a £6m signing from Hamburg, went straight into the City line-up and admitted afterwards he had to learn his team-mate's names during the game, having only met them over the weekend.

But the tall Belgian excelled on his debut, playing the midfield holding role with authority before showing his versatility by switching to central defence when Richards was forced off. City were on top from the start, and almost went ahead in the 11th minute.

Calum Davenport twice cleared off the line for West Ham, the ball thudding off the bar after his second intervention.

Despite City's dominance, there was an all-too familiar feeling about their failure to make it count, particularly when Martin Petrov executed a sublime free-kick which leftWest Ham keeper Robert Green static, only to see it cannon off his left-hand post.

They were not helped by some poor refereeing from Howard Webb, who must have been the only person in the stadium who did not see West Ham skipper Lucas Neill use his elbow to block a corner in the 41st minute.

By that stage Hammers had been reduced to 10 men, midfielder Mark Noble conspiring to earn two yellow cards in the space of three minutes to leave his team-mates with a Noble's first transgression came when he tripped under pressure from Kompany and inexplicably grabbed the ball to earn an automatic caution.

Quite why Noble felt the need to lunge at Michael Johnson minutes later, right under the nose of Webb, only he knows. But the ref had no choice but to show a second yellow card and a subsequent red.

City maintained the upper hand after the break, but in the 50th minute came the sickening clash of heads between Richards and Ben Haim, which delayed the game for 10 minutes.

But City regained their composure and proceeded to demolish West Hamwith three superbly-crafted and exquisitely-taken goals in the space of 11 minutes.

The first came when Petrov's looping cross was lamely cleared by Matthew Upson and went straight to the feet of 18-year-old Daniel Sturridge, who fired the ball into the net with a ferocious left-foot shot in the 65th minute.

West Ham were still reeling from that blow when they found themselves 2-0 down five minutes later.

Vedran Corluka and Stephen Ireland combined to set up Elano, the Brazilian steering the ball in from just outside the six-yard box.

Corluka and Ireland were also the architects of City's third, the former slipping the ball between Neill and Julian Faubert for the latter to run on to before pulling it back for Elano to apply the finishing touch.

By the third goalWest Ham's fate was sealed, their travelling fans acknowledging as much by performing an ironic conga up and down the section in which they were sat. Like West Ham, City were forced to end the game with 10 men after sub Kelvin Etuhu pulled up with a hamstring injury in the 83rd minute.

Having used all three of his substitutes, Hughes was unable to replace Etuhu, although with a comfortable three-goal cushion City were able to see out the lengthy addedtime following the delay to treat Richards.

THE LINE-UPS

Man City: Hart 7, Corluka 8, Richards 7 (Hamann 74 6), Ben Haim 7, Ball 7, Kompany 8, Johnson 7, Ireland 8, Petrov 8 (Etuhu 77), Elano 8, Sturridge 7

West Ham: Green 5, Neill 5, Upson 5, Davenport 5, Behrami 5, Etherington 5 (Boa Morte 74 4), Parker 5, Noble 3, Faubert 5, Ashton 5, Cole 5 (Sears 30, Mullins 46 4).

ATTENDANCE: 36,635

Referee: Howard Webb