Manchester City have placed one foot in the Capital One Cup final after beating West Ham United 6-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.
A hat-trick from Alvaro Negredo and a second-half double from Edin Dzeko gave City an almost unassailable lead ahead of the return leg at Upton Park next Tuesday.
Negredo opened the scoring in the 12th minute when he raced onto Yaya Toure's sublime pass before firing home with his left foot. The lead was doubled less than 15 minutes later when Negredo played a neat one-two with Dzeko before slotting home from an angle.
On 40 minutes, the Hammers were all at sea when Toure advanced menacingly toward goal from midfield before unleashing a thunderous effort past visiting keeper Adrian.
Four minutes into the second half and Negredo had completed his treble when he hooked a first-time effort into the bottom corner before Dzeko made it 5-0 on the hour-mark when sidefooting home Gael Clichy's low cross.
in the 89th minute, the Bosnian ace capped a wonderful performance when he slammed home Aleksandar Kolarov's pass, putting City in a very strong position to set up a Wembley final where they could meet rivals Manchester United who trail Sunderland 2-1 in the other semi-final.
2013/14 Capital One Cup - semi-final first leg
Manchester City: 6 (Alvaro Negredo 12'/26'/49', Yaya Toure 40', Edin Dzeko 60'/89') West Ham United: 0 Etihad Stadium, Manchester - 40,000
