City put on Sunday best for troubled Thaksin

Manchester City 3 West Ham 0

ELANO On target ELANO: On target

Thaksin Shinawatra entertained Mark Hughes for dinner last week – and the Manchester City boss reciprocated yesterday by serving up a Sunday treat for his troubled owner.[>

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Thaksin cast aside fears over his personal safety by making his first visit to the City of Manchester Stadium since fleeing Bangkok, where he faces corruption charges.[>

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Those worries, plus fears over City’s finances, the number of untimely injuries and defeats to FC Midtjylland and Aston Villa, had combined to make it a nightmare start to the season for Hughes.[>

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But a goal from Daniel Sturridge and two from a revitalised Elano gave City their first points and put a smile on Thaksin’s face.[>

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Hughes said: “It’s nice to play well and win in front of the owner of the club –  it does help.[>

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“We had dinner earlier in the week and he is very positive about his ambitions for the club and I was really excited by what he had to say.[>

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“I’m sure he enjoyed it. It was an important win. It settles everyone down. I’ve been trying to accentuate the positives for the last few weeks but not many have been paying attention to it.[>

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“People at the moment are more concerned about the negative aspects, if there are any, about what is happening. But we are positive about where we want to go. And we have the funds in place to realise our dreams.” Vincent Kompany was superb on his debut as midfield anchorman and then in defence after Micah Richards had been taken to hospital following a sickening clash of heads with Tal Ben Haim.[>

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Hughes expects to bring in more new signings this week to maintain the momentum of this impressive performance.[>

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Despite the presence of several hundred Thai fans all wearing “I support Thaksin” T-shirts, the former Thailand prime minister would not have been too pleased with the number of empty seats – 36,365 was the lowest league crowd since City moved to their new stadium five years ago.[>

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But he was impressed by City’s dominant, dynamic performance against West Ham, who were already hanging on when Mark Noble became the first Premier League player to be red carded this season in the 37th minute.[>

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Noble picked up two bookings from Howard Webb in the space of four minutes – for handball and then a late tackle on Michael Johnson. City took a while to recover from the blow of losing Richards in the first minute of the second half but once Sturridge cracked home the first after 64 minutes, the Hammers capitulated.[>

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Matthew Upson cleared Martin Petrov’s cross straight to Sturridge, who took a touch before firing into the roof of the net.[>

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Vedran Corluka and Stephen Ireland combined well to set up the other two goals for Elano.[>

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Hammers boss Alan Curbishley said: “I asked the players for a verbal reaction and not one of them could hold their hands up and say they performed. I can’t look at any one of them and say, ‘you held your end up’. That  has got to change against Macclesfield in the Carling Cup on Wednesday.”[>

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Man City (4-4-2): Hart 6; Corluka 6, Ben Haim 6, Richards 7 (Hamman 54, 5), Ball 7; Ireland 7, Kompany 8, Johnson 7, Petrov 7; Elano 7, Sturridge 8. Goals: Sturridge 64, Elano 70, 75.[>

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West Ham (4-4-2): Green 6; Behrami 5, Davenport 5, Upson 5, Neill 5; Faubert 4, Noble 4, Parker 6, Etherington 5 (Boa Morte 74, 5); Ashton 4, Cole 3 (Sears 31, 4, Mullins 46, 4). Booked: Behrami, Noble. Sent off: Noble.[>

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Referee: H Webb (Yorks).[>

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