Man City send West Brom closer to relegation

Manchester City 4 West Brom 2. Manchester City enjoyed some samba fun in the sun yesterday as their two Brazilians Elano and Robinho helped themselves to goals in a high-scoring win that must surely doom West Brom to Championship football next season.

"On a day when the sun shone brightly on this corner of east Manchester, it was perhaps inevitable that both Elano and Robinho - the South American pair that have added to Hughes's grey hairs this season - would rediscover their autumnal form and their goalscoring double-act proved decisive as City edged West Brom closer to relegation in this 4-2 victory," reports the Daily Telegraph.

"Yet in typical City fashion, the game could have ended as a 5-5 draw or, even worse, a 6-5 defeat had more defensive errors been capitalised on by either side. So Hughes's decision to replace a clearly exhausted Elano with holding midfielder Gelson Fernandes with sixteen minutes left to play should have been viewed as a wary manager attempting to bolt the back door and safeguard victory.

"But the chorus of boos that greeted the substitution, and a repeat of last Sunday's chant of 'You don't know you're doing', summed up the task that Hughes also faces off the pitch at Eastlands. Manchester United supporters mockingly refer to City's stadium as the 'Boo Camp' and here was the reason why.

"Having allowed West Brom, with two strikes from Chris Brunt, to cancel out the 2-0 lead built by Robinho's first goal since December and Nedum Onuoha's twenty-first minute header, the grumbles around Eastlands were perhaps understandable. But once Elano had restored City's lead from the penalty spot just two minutes after Brunt's equaliser, Albion threw everything at the home side in a vain attempt claw something from the game. Elano, all flair and virtually no defensive qualities, was hardly going to help stem the tide."