Sven back with a bang

With a side virtually thrown together in the space of a month, Eriksson found the potent combination of an effective and winning performance, with the promise of much more to come when his eight new boys eventually find their feet.

Bianchi's close-range effort before the break and Geovanni's angled drive near the end sealed a win which was enough to shut the mouths of Eriksson's many critics, for a while at least anyway.

Despite dominating possession for long periods in the opening period, Alan Curbishley's side failed miserably to put any pressure on rookie keeper Kasper Schmeichel.

The 20-year-old, son of great Dane Peter, was a virtual spectator as City's defence, protected superbly by Dietmar Hamann and Michael Johnson, kept West ham at arm's length.

It was Elano who provided the touch of class though. Deployed just behind lone striker Bianchi, Elano found space intelligently, never lost his composure and always threatened to cause problems and it was his low cross which invited a far post finish and Bianchi - fourth highest scorer in Serie A last term - was on hand to tap home.

Curbishley gave a clear indication of what he thought about West Ham's attempts to level by hauling off both Luis Boa Morte and Lee Bowyer during the interval. For the moment Dean Ashton, the man most Hammers fans and watching England coach Steve McClaren really wanted to see, remained on the bench.

Freddie Ljungberg was an inch away from turning home Matthew Etherington's cross but, with just under half an hour remaining Curbishley called on Ashton, who had not played a game since breaking an ankle on England duty 12 months ago.

And the golden moment Ashton had been waiting for arrived 11 minutes from time as Etherington picked him out with a deep cross. The striker took aim from 10 yards, only to see his first-time volley skim the crossbar.

It was the nearest West Ham came to spoiling Eriksson's day before substitute Geovanni rammed home number two four minutes from time.