West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce says Manchester City should stick with Mario Balotelli.

The Italy international has something of a reputation for being unruly and hard to manage but Allardyce, drawing on personal experience, believes players of such ability are worth putting up with.

"Well, I've managed Dioufy (El Hadji Diouf) haven't I!" he said. "They are a bit similar, it is all about personalities and if the talent far outweighs the difficulties in managing him I'd have him all day long.

"We handled the front three really well. With Balotelli, (Edin) Dzeko, (Carlos) Tevez and then (Sergio) Aguero coming on we have limited Man City to few clear-cut opportunities today."