Manchester City crushed 10-man Birmingham 4-1 in the late Saturday kick-off to put paid to the Midlanders’ brief Premiership revival.
The defeat left the Blues second from bottom and quickly brought them back down to earth after last week’s morale-boosting 1-0 win over Fulham.
Goals from David Sommeil, Joey Barton, Antoine Sibierski and Bradley Wright-Phillips sealed a comprehensive victory for the hosts before Birmingham gained scant consolation through substitute Jiri Jarosik’s late strike.
And to make matters worse, goalkeeper Nico Vaesen was sent off for a second bookable offence after harshly being ruled to have handled outside the box.
Birmingham manager Steve Bruce was full of hope before the game after last week when his side won for the second time in three league matches, ending a five-game losing streak.
But that hope turned to dismay within a minute of the start on Saturday.
Sommeil came up for a corner and blasted the ball home after Sibierski won a header to cause panic in the box.
On the quarter hour mark, Vassell raced onto a through ball only to be brought down in the area by Vaesen who received his first booking.
Barton stepped up to slot home the resulting spot-kick and five minutes before the break, Sibierski killed the game off with a header for 3-0.
The game was truly over after Wright-Phillips hammered home a brilliant volley from a deft Sibierski knock-down on 70 minutes.
Jarosik cleverly manoevered some space to fire in off the post with 15 minutes left but Vaesen’s last-minute indiscretion completed Birmingham’s miserable afternoon.
Manchester City moved up to seventh in the table on 27 points, just three points off a Champions League berth. – Sapa-AFP