City response was Svensational

Sven-Goran Eriksson admitted he looked his Manchester City team in the eye at half-time in the 4-2 win against Bolton and thought he was staring at a bunch of losers.

It was suggested by Gareth Southgate that as England slid to their 2002 World Cup quarter-final defeat against Brazil, his team-mates were looking for Churchillian inspiration and instead got something more akin to Iain Duncan-Smith.

But the City players responded to Eriksson's simple home truth as the manager said: "When I looked at the players as they were about to come out for the second half, they looked a bit like a defeated team. Their heads were down and I said if they carry on looking like that we would not win the game. It changed them and after that they were a lot more positive."

Two-one down after El-Hadji Diouf and Kevin Nolan had overturned Rolando Bianchi's early effort, City roared back to claim a 4-2 win; their ninth successive Premier League home triumph this term.

The hosts levelled when Lubomir Michalik deflected Dietmar Hamman's curling shot into his own net, Darius Vassell turned home Martin Petrov's low cross to put the Blues in front 13 minutes from time before Kelvin Etuhu sealed a place in the top four ahead of Grand Slam Sunday with an injury-time strike.

Although Bianchi was not on the pitch as Etuhu finished Bolton off, the Italian had major cause for celebration, marking his first start since September with his fourth goal of the campaign.

It has long been predicted Bianchi will leave Eastlands in January, just six months after his £8.8million arrival from Reggina.

The presence of Mexico forward Nery Castillo in the stadium, prior to a loan move from Shakhtar Donetsk, only fuels that theory, although Eriksson has nothing but praise for Bianchi.

"Rolando has behaved extremely well," he said. "He has not played many games for us but he has always worked hard in training and does what he is supposed to do.

"He always has a smile on his face and he scored an important goal."