Premier League: Fulham 1 Manchester City 4

A Carlos Tevez-inspired Manchester City thrashed struggling Fulham 4-1 at Craven Cottage to ease the pressure on under-fire manager Roberto Mancini.

The Argentine scored twice to help fire City into fourth and boost their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

City got off to the perfect start, Tevez taking only six minutes to net his eighth league goal of the campaign.

Gareth Barry collected a sloppy clearance and passed to Tevez on the edge of the box, easily shrugging off defender Carlos Salcido and slipping the ball into the corner of the net.

Fulham responded well and almost immediately drew level, but Aaron Hughes could not keep his header down from a Damien Duff corner.

Fulham could have soon found themselves two goals down with 20 minutes gone as City quickly countered after Simon Davies’ shot was blocked.

A ball up field found full-back Aleksandar Kolarov clean through, however the Serb placed his shot too close to Mark Schwarzer who got down well to push it round the post.

Fulham were struggling, and Mancini’s men got the second goal they deserved on the half-hour mark.

David Silva twisted and turned before firing in a low cross which the Fulham defence could only half clear.

The ball fell to Pablo Zabaleta on the edge of the box and the right-back fired an unstoppable shot past a desperate dive from Schwarzer and into the corner of the net.

City were rampant and made it three moments later with two-thirds of the game still to play.

After a neat interchange between Jo and Silva, Tevez surged at the Fulham defence and slipped in Yaya Toure who had the easiest of finishes with only Schwarzer to beat.

Fulham started the second half brightly but lacked the killer touch. Andy Johnson’s low cross was well gathered by City keeper Joe Hart while Clint Dempsey dragged his shot wide from a good position as Fulham looked for a way back into the game.

With the Cottagers piling men forward, they were always going to be susceptible on the break.

Tevez was slipped clean through but could only shoot directly at Schwarzer, however the striker made amends for his miss from the resulting corner.

The ball once again fell to Zabeleta on the Fulham 18-yard line but his drive was cleverly flicked over the bent-over Schwarzer by Tevez and into the back of the net.

Substitute Zoltan Gera gave the home fans something to cheer about after his deflected low drive flew passed Hart, but it did little to spare Fulham’s blushes.