West Ham cup humiliation sends Man City to Wembley

Manchester City 6 West Ham United 0. There's still a second leg to come at Upton Park in a fortnight but Manchester City fans will this morning be planning their trip to Wembley for the final of the Capital One Cup on 2 March.

West Ham have no chance of overturning the six goal deficit in the return match in two weeks after being given a football lesson at the Etihad on Wednesday night.

It was the second humiliating cup result in the space of four days for West Ham, following their 5-0 humbling at the hands of Championship side Nottingham Forest on Sunday in the third round of the FA Cup, and their fans displeasure is growing. But that is unsurprising given the aggregate 11-0 scoreline from their last two outings.

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They booed manager Sam Allardyce at the final whistle in Manchester, calling for his dismissal in a chant that was heard by the hammers' co-owner David Gold, looking on grimly from his seat in the Etihad.

Asked later about his side's performance, Allardyce appeared to make a plea for a bigger transfer kitty from Gold and David Sullivan, the other owner of the Hammers. "We're in a bit of a hole at the moment and we have to dig ourselves out," admitted Allardyce. "We tried our best but it wasn't good enough against a side that have outstanding players because they spend outstanding money."

Allardyce said that they would have to take the beating "on the chin" but what could West Ham expect when "lads who are free transfers were playing against lads who have been paid hundreds of hundreds of millions [in transfer fees] and hundreds of hundreds in wages".

It was City's imported superstars who scored all the goals with Alvaro Negredo netting a hat-trick while there was also a brace from Edin Dzeko and another from Yaya Toure.

"It was a brilliant performance," declared City boss Manuel Pellegrini, whose side have scored 59 goals in 15 home games this season. "Alvaro Negredo had a good match not only because he scored three goals but also because he was the link with the midfield. It was the same thing for Edin Dzeko. They were not playing very well together before because they were not used to it, but the more matches they play, the better they are."

As for that date at Wembley, Pellegrini tried to be as diplomatic as possible, saying "football is never finished", before conceding: "I think today we have one leg in the final."