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Manchester - Nigel De Jong's first goal for Manchester City helped his side pull clear in the race for fourth place in the English Premier League with a 2-1 win over West Ham at Eastlands on Sunday.
Netherlands midfielder De Jong opened the scoring early on and Pablo Zabaleta struck soon after to give City a commanding lead after just 15 minutes.
Demba Ba pulled one back for West Ham to set up a tense final hour, but fourth-placed City held on for a victory that moves them seven points clear of Liverpool with three matches remaining.
West Ham's fifth consecutive defeat leaves them bottom of the table, three points from safety with three matches left.
With on-loan Wayne Bridge ineligible against his parent club, West Ham manager Avram Grant was forced to field central defender Danny Gabbidon at left back and it did not take long for City to expose that weakness.
Adam Johnson beat the Welshman with ease and pulled the ball back for David Silva to have a low effort deflected wide and Mario Balotelli headed wide from the corner that followed.
City took the lead with just 10 minutes gone when Aleksander Kolarov's corner flicked off Vincent Kompany and was only half cleared by Jonathan Spector.
De Jong hit the ball first time into the bottom corner of the net for his first goal since an effort in Holland's 2-1 win over Iceland in June 2009 and his first for City.
Five minutes later the lead was doubled thanks to fine work down the City right by Zabaleta.
The Argentinian fed Silva and chased the Spaniard's return pass into the area, where his cross-shot was prodded in off the bar by West Ham defender Lars Jacobsen.
The visitors' cause suffered a further blow midway through the opening period when captain Matthew Upson limped off to be replaced by Manuel da Costa.
Their situation almost got even worse when Yaya Toure burst through the midfield and hit a drive just past a post.
But finally the visitors began to threaten and Robbie Keane should have pulled one back when he was sent through by Spector, but he could only shoot straight at Joe Hart.
However, West Ham did halve the deficit just after the half-hour mark.
Thomas Hitzlsperger's cross glanced off Keane and hit Joleon Lescott's hand but the referee played advantage to allow Ba to find the corner.
Johnson also had a long-range effort held by Green just before the interval, with James Milner replacing De Jong at the break.
Balotelli almost made the game safe shortly after the restart when he was sent into the area by Silva and thumped a shot against the bar.
City were sitting deeper and deeper and had a scare when Da Costa met Hitzlsperger's corner with a powerful header that forced a fine save from Joe Hart.
But City should have made the game safe when Silva was sent clean through and committed Green before squaring to Toure, whose shot was cleared off the line by James Tomkins.
Ba flashed a shot wide of goal from 25 yards as West Ham grew increasingly desperate for an equaliser.
They now remain deep in relegation trouble ahead of next weekend's crucial home game against fellow strugglers Blackburn.
Netherlands midfielder De Jong opened the scoring early on and Pablo Zabaleta struck soon after to give City a commanding lead after just 15 minutes.
Demba Ba pulled one back for West Ham to set up a tense final hour, but fourth-placed City held on for a victory that moves them seven points clear of Liverpool with three matches remaining.
West Ham's fifth consecutive defeat leaves them bottom of the table, three points from safety with three matches left.
With on-loan Wayne Bridge ineligible against his parent club, West Ham manager Avram Grant was forced to field central defender Danny Gabbidon at left back and it did not take long for City to expose that weakness.
Adam Johnson beat the Welshman with ease and pulled the ball back for David Silva to have a low effort deflected wide and Mario Balotelli headed wide from the corner that followed.
City took the lead with just 10 minutes gone when Aleksander Kolarov's corner flicked off Vincent Kompany and was only half cleared by Jonathan Spector.
De Jong hit the ball first time into the bottom corner of the net for his first goal since an effort in Holland's 2-1 win over Iceland in June 2009 and his first for City.
Five minutes later the lead was doubled thanks to fine work down the City right by Zabaleta.
The Argentinian fed Silva and chased the Spaniard's return pass into the area, where his cross-shot was prodded in off the bar by West Ham defender Lars Jacobsen.
The visitors' cause suffered a further blow midway through the opening period when captain Matthew Upson limped off to be replaced by Manuel da Costa.
Their situation almost got even worse when Yaya Toure burst through the midfield and hit a drive just past a post.
But finally the visitors began to threaten and Robbie Keane should have pulled one back when he was sent through by Spector, but he could only shoot straight at Joe Hart.
However, West Ham did halve the deficit just after the half-hour mark.
Thomas Hitzlsperger's cross glanced off Keane and hit Joleon Lescott's hand but the referee played advantage to allow Ba to find the corner.
Johnson also had a long-range effort held by Green just before the interval, with James Milner replacing De Jong at the break.
Balotelli almost made the game safe shortly after the restart when he was sent into the area by Silva and thumped a shot against the bar.
City were sitting deeper and deeper and had a scare when Da Costa met Hitzlsperger's corner with a powerful header that forced a fine save from Joe Hart.
But City should have made the game safe when Silva was sent clean through and committed Green before squaring to Toure, whose shot was cleared off the line by James Tomkins.
Ba flashed a shot wide of goal from 25 yards as West Ham grew increasingly desperate for an equaliser.
They now remain deep in relegation trouble ahead of next weekend's crucial home game against fellow strugglers Blackburn.
