West Ham United 0 Manchester City 2: Sven-Goran Eriksson enjoyed a glorious start to life at Manchester City as new boys Rolando Bianchi and Geovanni condemned West Ham to that old familiar losing feeling.

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.

But opposite number Alan Curbishley, a one-time candidate for the Swede's old job, must be anxious about his side's pitiful display at the beginning of a campaign which promised so much after the troubles of last term.

In fact, the high point of an otherwise horrible day for the Hammers was Dean Ashton's return, and even he could not wipe the smile off Eriksson's face.

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

Eriksson must have feared for the 20-year-old, son of great Dane Peter, when he named him in a starting line-up featuring six Premier League debutants.

Yet Schmeichel was a virtual spectator as City's defence, protected superbly by Dietmar Hamann and Michael Johnson, kept them at arm's length.

All the threat came from the visitors, with Martin Petrov particularly prolific in the shooting department. The Bulgarian midfielder let fly from all angles without being able to beat Robert Green.

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.

The 26-year-old had already fired one snap-shot over when he collected Stephen Ireland's short pass after Luis Boa Morte had lost possession inside the City half.

Quickly sensing Matthew Upson might lack half a yard of pace, Elano ran straight at the England defender, then skipped round him with the minimum of fuss.

The low cross invited a far post finish and Bianchi - fourth highest scorer in Serie A last term - was on hand to tap home and substitute Geovanni rammed home number two four minutes from time.