Manchester City maintained their 100 percent record at home with a convincing 1-0 victory over Birmingham City on Saturday.

Elano continued his good form in front of the goal with his fourth strike in three games as Man City rode to victory on his 37th minute strike to maintain their third position in the league table. However Birmingham City could count themselves as unlucky since the build up for the goal started with a foul on Fabrice Muamba which was not seen by the referee.

Birmingham chalked up a determined performance against a team in a peak form and should have come away with the match with at least a point. Steve Bruce's side managed to keep the Man City attacker quite for long periods of time with the first real effort on goal was the one that put the hosts in the lead.

Michael Johnson snatched the ball from the legs of Muamba before passing the ball to Verdan Corluka. The Croatian defender released Elano near the edge of the area who blasted the ball past Maik Taylor into the net to put Man City in the lead.

Oliver Kapo very nearly put Birmingham on level terms when he found himself unmarked in the penalty area but the resultant shot was gathered easily by Joe Hart. Both the teams started the second half brightly with Martin Petrov and Rafael Schmitz both missing the target by inches.

Petrov was once again on target for Man City in the 60th minute but his shot was saved comfortably by Taylor as the hosts pushed forward in search of a killer goal. Elano had a great chance to put the result beyond doubt but his shot from 20 yards out flew just wide of the post.

Man City continued to defend with determination as Birmingham failed to find the equalizer, leaving Sven Goran Eriksson side with a sixth home victory on the trot.