Given Did not have very much to do but did it well as ever. Must be thrilled at the prospect of being three games away from a trophy. 6
Richards Continued in the absence of Pablo Zabaleta and had a good game. A few big tackles went down well with the crowd and helped Wright-Phillips going forward once or twice. 6
Touré A solid performance against his former club. Not much of a preparation for facing Didier Drogba on Saturday though. 6
Lescott The gradual improvement continues: he made some crucial interventions and looked calm on the ball. Did let Carlos Vela get away from him once in the first half but still a good performance. 7
Bridge Did his job well, while showing off his pace and incision going forward on occassions. 6
SWP His best game since his return to City last summer. Armand Traoré isn't a great player, but Shaun made him look like an amateur last night, skinning him every time he was on the ball. His goal - cutting in from the right and hitting it across the keeper into the top corner - was like his great strike in the 4-1 derby (in which the hapless Mikael Silvestre also started), but better. And more important. 9
Ireland Not quite his favoured position - he prefers Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong behind him rather than just one. He was tidy for the first hour, before really showing his class as the game was stretched late on. 7
Barry More of a destructive job for him, in the absence of de Jong, and he did it well. Used the ball wisely, and kept his discipline, never really breaking forward. But Aaron Ramsey and Fran Merida is not exactly a great preparation for Frank Lampard and Michael Essien. 7
Bellamy After a few quiet weeks he was back to his best: running himself into the ground up and down the left flank. He hunted the ball down with Tévez for the first goal, and pulled out a remarkable burst of pace before crossing for the third. We can even forgive his miss - from the same position as he scored against Arsenal, Burnley and Villa this year - in the first half. 8
Tévez Yet another who brought out his best game for some time when it mattered. The running, aggression and link up play were all there, this time allied to an ability to put the ball in the net. His goal - robbing Tomáš Rosický, beating two more men and hitting it into the top corner - was the sort of quality you expect from someone of his price. Will relish a chance to go back to Old Trafford again. 8
Adebayor Some wilful running in the first half but it wasn't quite coming off for him. Some may have hoped that a meeting with Arsenal would reboot his season but it didn't happen. If Hughes thinks Tévez could lead the line Adebayor's place comes under real pressure. 6
Subs:
Kompany Good to see him back in midfield, where he did so well last year. One or two nice touches and a booking too. 6
Weiss Scored what we hope will be the first of many for the club. 7
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Sadly for Ade, his best positions came whilst Teves was on the ball- there were a few times where he'd lost his marker and a passer with vision would have put him clean through, but Teves just kept his head down and ran. (this isn't a criticism of Teves as he isn't put into the team for his famed slide-rule passing! just to point out Adebayor was not at fault for being ineffective in attack, although some of his running back from offside positions was just lazy)
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