Man City 3 - 1 West Ham ( Tevez 5', Cole 24', Petrov 32', Tevez 61') *Video*

City win again and with the teams around us winning at the weekend, it was an important one if we are to stay in the hunt for the top four and even the league title.

Our first goal was scored by Carlos Tevez, Petrov breaking down the left to leave the Argentine with an easy tap in. Our second goal was scored by Petrov himself, with the Bulgarian scoring directly from a free kick. The game was pretty much wrapped up when Tevez headed home from a City free kick. Goals below!

We played quite well for most of the game last night, there were brief periods where we let West Ham have a bit of control but nothing to worrying. We were just to good for the hammers, they had no where near as much quality as us and it was that simple. Not to say West Ham didn't play some good stuff because they did, it was just that there good stuff was no match for ours.

A lot of people are talking about Petrov's influence last night, he was great in the first half but was anonymous in the second, I do think he did enough for Hughes to keep him in the team though. Tevez and Bellamy were also brilliant last night and caused West Ham countless problems, they just could not handle them. Nigel de Jong also put in another sterling performance last night and won the midfield battle by himself, there is no way he is losing his place anytime soon.

Although we are winning game after game, It is obvious that City can still get a lot better. You can see that if they wanted to they could easily go up a couple gears and when that finally happens someone is going to get hammered big time.

Good times for us blues at the moment and I don't think that feeling is going to change anytime soon, the blue machine marches on!

Goals

Man City vs West Ham - Mon 28Th Sep 20:00 pm

West Ham are our next opponents, we Will have to be careful because West Ham love to play attacking football, ultimately though I think we will breach gaps that they will leave after committing men forward.

West Ham have always been a team I like to watch because they never sacrifice the way they play, they love to go forward and put pressure on the oppositions defence. The bad thing for them in that respect is, I think any team who plays attacking football against City will be punished. I don't think there are many teams who can afford to attack us because they simply do not have the quality to deal with us when we break.

Again I just think we will have to much quality for West Ham tonight as long as we don't play like we did against Fulham. West Ham have some good players but for example when you look at the likes of Parker and Noble, the form De Jong is in he will take care of those two on his own. I think that is a small example of our quality.

There is a possibility that Santa Cruz will play tonight and the way we play at times we need a big man up top, I have been waiting for this man to make his debut because honestly I was not impressed when we signed him for £17 million. Of course I hope he proves my doubts wrong and bangs goals in for us, as well as setting them up.

Man City Team News:
Stephen Ireland could miss out, he went off feeling dizzy against Fulham but it is actually a bug that he has caught that may stop him from playing tonight. Gareth Barry is also thought to have caught the bug but has recovered in time to play. Micah Richards is trying to shrug off a shoulder injury in time to be fit but may miss out. Robinho (ankle), Nedum Onuoha (thigh), Vincent Kompany (ankle), Michael Johnson (abdominal) and Benjani Mwaruwari (thigh) are all still out with injury.Emmanuel Adebayor serves the last game of his three match ban.

West Ham Team News:
Matthew Upson should have shook off a calf injury in time to play, but Jack Collison may not have recovered in time from his calf injury to play. Valon Behrami is also struggling although Luis Jimenez looks to have recovered from a groin injury. Luis Boa Morte and Dean Ashton are long term casualties for West Ham. Guillermo Franco is in line to make his debut for the Hammers.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Barry, De Jong, Wright-Phillips, Bellamy, Tevez, Santa Cruz.

Possible West Ham Line Up: Green, Faubert, Upson, Tomkins, Ilunga, Parker, Noble, Hines, Diamanti, Franco, Cole.

My Prediction: Man City 3 - 0 West Ham.

Worth A Bet: Bellamy scores one and Carlos Tevez bags two in a 3 - 0 City win.

West Ham 1 - 0 Man City ( Collison 71')

City had away from home syndrome again today and go away from Upton Park defeated.

I hate saying this and I am going to apologise in advance to Mr Cook who wants to rid our club of this attitude, but today we were typical City. Just when you think we are hitting the kind of form that may see us qualify for Europe, we blow it.

When called upon today we were found lacking in quality and against a good West Ham team we got what we deserved, nothing.

I think the midfield were poor today and didn't really help in defence or provide anything for our attackers. Robinho and Bellamy for example looked lively when they were involved today, but they weren't involved as much as they could or should have been because the service was either poor or non existent.

Zabaleta was moved to right back after 15 minutes because Micah Richards went off injured and I think it was obvious the midfield missed him. Kompany and De Jong didn't really have any impact on the game, Kompany tried his best to rough a few West Ham players up and that was about it.

As for when we got forward today, there were some bad decisions once we got in the final third and at times it was all a bit messy, saying that we did have enough chances to score and win the game but our finishing was found wanting.

Negatives from today's game:
Another loss and with some tough fixtures coming up we could be looking at being heavily involved in a relegation battle. More bad news, Robinho, Bellamy and Richards all went off injured today and are at the very least likely to miss the game against Villa in midweek.

Positives to take from today's game:
I have been vocal about how poor I think Wayne Bridge has been, today I thought he was a lot better for large parts of the game. There was still things I thought he could have done better but overall I saw some improvement.

Now a huge positive from the game today was the surprise return to the squad of Valeri Bojinov. I am really pleased Bojinov is back and can't wait to see him in action regularly. It was thought he would need a couple more reserve outings before making a first team squad, so I just hope he isn't being rushed.

To sum up, Hughes really has to hurry up and stop this inconsistency whilst there is still a possibility of qualifying for Europe. If he doesn't I don't think he will be our manager next season, unless he wins the Uefa Cup and even then I'm not sure that would be enough to save him, so on his head be it.

West Ham vs Man City - Sun 1st March 12:30 pm

City are back on the road this weekend and will be looking to improve their away record against West Ham at Upton Park.

City go into the game on the back of some positive results and will be looking to build on that by winning away from home. West Ham will be desperate for a win to boost their confidence, having not won in their last five games.

I am looking forward to this game and think there is more than a chance that we can win it. After our recent great performance away at Anfield, I feel we have enough ability to win if not at least take something away from Upton Park.

I think the way West Ham like to try and keep the ball on the floor will also benefit us, we have more than enough quality in our midfield to be able to cut that out and with West Ham's players committed forward we should be able to break on them.

City team news:
Nigel De Jong looks set to replace Shaun Wright-Phillips who continues his domestic ban and Gelson Fernandes is struggling with a hamstring injury. Valeri Bojinov played another game for the reserves on thursday but is not expected to feature in the squad.

West Ham team news:
Mark Noble misses out due to suspension, Jack Collison and David Di Michelle are expected to start after only being on the bench in midweek and after making his debut on Wednesday it looks like Radoslav Kovav will keep his place.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Dunne, Onuoha, Bridge, Kompany, Zabaleta, Ireland, De Jong, Robinho, Bellamy.

Possible West Ham line up: Green, Illunga, Tomkins, Upson, Neill, Behrami, Kovac, Parker, Collison, Di Michele, Cole.

My prediction: West Ham 1 - 3 Man City

Worth a bet: Bellamy to score two goals in a 3-1 win on his return to Upton Park.