Manchester City - West Ham 3:0 (0:0)

"Ten man West Ham slumped to a sorry defeat
in a day to forget at the City of Manchester Stadium."
The Guardian

"Utterly, utterly depressing. No spark, no creativity, no life."
Iain Dale

BBC Online:
"West Ham knocked the ball about nicely in the opening stages. But, while they failed to test home goalkeeper Joe Hart, City were soon creating chances. And the visitor's cause was not helped by Noble's needless dismissal on 38 minutes. The England under-21 midfielder's first yellow card, for a handball after he slipped, was foolish and he gave referee Howard Webb no choice but to send him off when he lunged in on Michael Johnson soon afterwards.

Sturrige’s goal (65) brought relief for Hughes but it was almost short-lived as West Ham launched a swift attack from the restart. Sadly for the visitors, Matthew Etherington and Julien Faubert got in each others way after running clear and the chance was gone.

And City were soon out of sight - Vedran Corluka and Ireland combining down the right to tee up Elano on 70 minutes before the same trio linked up to add a third goal seven minutes later.

But, despite a mammoth 10 minutes of added time, West Ham could still not muster a shot on target on a miserable afternoon for Alan Curbishley's men.

Curbishley, who could see defender Anton Ferdinand sold to Sunderland next week, lost Carlton Cole to injury after just 31 minutes and the striker becomes the latest name on a lengthy injury list at Upton Park."

Man City: Hart, Corluka, Richards (Hamann 54), Ben-Haim, Michael Ball, Ireland, Kompany, Johnson, Petrov (Etuhu 77), Elano (Evans 77), Sturridge.
Subs Not Used: Schmeichel, Garrido, Gelson, Caicedo.
Goals: Sturridge 65, Elano 70, 76.

West Ham: Green, Behrami, Davenport, Upson, Neill, Faubert, Noble, Parker, Etherington (Boa Morte 74), Ashton, Cole (Sears 31), Sears (Mullins 46).
Subs Not Used: Lastuvka, Reid, Bowyer, Spence.
Sent Off: Noble (38).
Booked: Behrami, Noble.

Att: 36,635
Ref: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire).