Manchester City 2 West Ham United 1

West Ham remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League after a predicatable defeat at the City of Manchester stadium this afternoon.

An horrific start for Avram Grant's side saw them go two goals behind after just quarter-of-an-hour - a margin that, despite a spirited effort thereafter, proved too much to eradicate.

As if the task in hand wasn't hard enough to begin with, manager Grant was forced to field an unfamiliar midfield including Freddie Sears and Luis Boa Morte with Gary O'Neil, Mark Noble and Scott Parker all sidelined through injury.

And it soon got worse for Grant and his side when Nigel De Jong gave the Citizens a 10th minute lead; the Dutch midfielder pouncing on a clearance via a corner to fire home through a crowd of bodies from outside the box. It was the Dutch midfielder's first goal since joining City nearly two years ago - and came just a week after Fernando Torres was allowed to break his Chelsea stalemate against West Ham.

Five minutes later and it looked as if we may be heading for a cricket score when Lars Jacobsen turned the ball into his own net whilst trying to hook clear a goalbound Zabaleta effort. However as City, in possession a two-goal cushion relaxed, West Ham continued to press forward - and Demba Ba profited in the 33rd minute when he fired home from inside the six yard box. Had the Senegalese striker not scored referee Howard Webb would almost certainly have awarded a penalty for a hand ball moments earlier.

City, finally realising that the game may not quite be the walk in the park it had appeared after 15 minutes stepped up the pace as the half ended to finish the stronger. But Avram Grant will no doubt be delighted at the way his team responded after the break as they pretty much matched City - despite failing to find the goal that would have given them a valuable point in the battle to avoid the drop.

The Citizens - for whom the win virtually guarantees Champions League football next season - had the better chances after the break, if not the possession; Mario Balotelli saw one effort crash off the underside of Rob Green's bar whilst Manuel Da Costa - on as a first half replacement for the injured (again) Matthew Upson - was forced to clear another effort off the line. Da Costa's 62nd minute header from a Thomas Hitzlsperger corner was the closest United went to grabbing an equaliser.

So overall it was a reasonable performance from which encouragement should be taken, despite the defeat - and although a disappointing result, with none of the bottom four managing to secure a win this weekend (Wolves drew 1-1 at Birmingham earlire in the day) United go into the final three games of the season just three points away from safety.

A difficult, yet far from insurmountable task. The season begins now.