City limits exposed by Hammers

A victory over West Ham United on the opening day of the season triggered the optimism that accompanied the opening months of the Sven-Goran Eriksson era at Manchester City.

Now, successive games against the same opponents have injected a sober dose of realism and revealed the limitations of the Swede’s over-achieving side.

For the second time in four days Eriksson’s team was shown to be bereft of the wit and creativity that has kept them firmly in the race to finish fourth and while a single-goal victory in the midweek FA Cup tie helped disguise City’s flaws, yesterday’s performance offered no such smokescreen.