Manchester City maintained their impressive 100% home record in the Premier League with a 1-1 draw against West Ham.

Striker Carlton Cole made up for the absence of Dean Ashton by scoring the opener, before Darius Vassell notched up his third of the season to grab a share of the points.

The three hours of football these two sides had already played against each other in January produced only one goal, but it took just seven minutes this time round for Cole to open the scoring.

The former Chelsea striker controlled Freddie Ljungberg's low cross into the box with his back to Vedran Corluka. His first touch sat up perfectly for him to hit an overhead kick past Joe Hart, who was rooted to the spot.

However, that lead lasted less than ten minutes. Martin Petrov took a corner from the right, which was cleared by Anton Ferdinand but only as far as Stephen Ireland.

The Irishman gave Petrov another chance to send the ball in, and this time the Bulgarian's swinging cross was not dealt with and fell to Vassell to stab home form inside the six-yard box. West Ham boss Alan Curbishley was furious, as replays showed that Vassell was in an offside position when Petrov's cross came in.

After the drab affair that was the FA Cup third round tie between these two sides, this match proved to be a more entertaining contest.

While the entire West Ham midfield were combining well throughout the match, City placed much of the burden on Petrov with Dietmar Hamann and Ireland deployed in defensive roles and Elano continuing his underwhelming run of recent form.

It was Hart who proved the most instrumental player for City with two top-class saves in his ninth straight first-team appearance for the club.

With 15 minutes to go, substitute Julien Faubert led a West Ham break on the wing and squared a pass across for Cole, who saw his first-time strike rebound off the feet of Hart.

Then, in what proved to be the final act of the match, Cole's solid header from a Ljungberg cross was tipped over the bar by the 20-year-old.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport