Man City Crush Birmingham 5-1 in Premier League - 04-12-10

April 12 - Of the six English Premier League games played this weekend, there is little doubt that the match between Manchester City and Birmingham City would have been the most talked about this morning, after City crushed Birmingham by a resounding 5-1 in their showdown on Sunday at Eastlands.

Even though this season's English Premier League title hopes rest with one of the top three teams - Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal - it's great to see other first tier teams putting in a hundred and ten percent. Which is what Manchester City did, leaving Birmingham City players and fans alike 'shell-shocked.'

Even Birmingham manager Alex McLeish looked more than a little 'dazed and confused' during his post game interviews. 'It was a strange game,' he said. 'When they click, top teams can do that to you. But we have the capacity to bounce back and make this just a blip. We have to win the next game against Hull City.'

From the outset Man City - in front of their home crowd - made it clear they meant business and that they would do anything to maintain their fourth place standing in the English Premier League (currently nine points behind Arsenal). And although it took 37 minutes, an easy penalty from City's Carlos Tevez made it 1-0.

Just over two minutes later, in a game rife with corners, Tevez made it 2-0 thanks to a skillful piece of play off a bang-on header from teammate Nedum Onouha. The Argentinean-born forward was on fire, and the predominantly Manchester City crowd let him know it as his skills left Birmingham with a 2-0 deficit.

Fans of both teams expecting the scoreline to remain unchanged until half time were equally surprised when just minutes after Tevez' double, Birmingham City's Cameron Jerome made it 2-1 thanks to a brilliant cross from teammate James McFadden. Now fans of both teams were sitting on the edge of their seats.

And in the 44th minute City showed why they are fourth in the League with an excellent play which was the highlight of the match. It began when City's Gareth Barry skilfully sent a pass over the head of Birmingham's Stephen Carr to Craig Bellamy who set up the perfect cross for Emmanuel Adebayor to make it 3-1.

The second half delivered more of the same and by the final whistle Manchester City walked off the field 5-1 up. Said City manager Roberto Mancini on his side's upcoming derby against Manchester United, 'It will be impossible to get three or four goals in our next game, but if we win 1-0 then I will be happy.''

Here are the full English Premier League Football results from Saturday April 10 and Sunday April 11, 2010:

Wolves 0-0 Stoke City
Blackburn 0-0 Man Utd
Liverpool 0-0 Fulhamm
Manchester City 5-1 Birmingham
Hull City 1-4 Burnley
West Ham Utd 1-0 Sunderland