Manchester City chalked up their first away win in the Premier League this season and the result rarely looked in doubt thanks to a towering performance from Sergio Aguero.

Brimming with confidence, the Argentinian put them in front after just a quarter of an hour, scooting the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen after a clever through ball from Fernandinho.

Aguero, described afterwards by City boss Manuel Pellegrini as a “top player who makes an important difference,” then smashed an effort at Jaaskelainen’s palms before half-time.

Five minutes after the restart Aguero notched his second, this time a powerful angled header at the near post from a David Silva free-kick. It was no more than City, and their star man, deserved.

West Ham, who lined up in a striker-less formation as they did in defeating Spurs a fortnight ago, scored just before the hour mark when Ricardo Vaz Te neatly executed an overhead kick.

But 10 minutes from time Silva sealed the win with a curled left-foot strike after being teed up by a backheel from Aguero who rightly departed to a standing ovation from the away section when substituted moments later.

Sam Allardyce refused to rule out again deploying his 4-6-0 formation, saying: “In that system we scored again today and for 25 minutes we could have scored another goal.”