Eriksson Awaits the Chelsea Test to Judge His City Experiment

Is it time to start taking Manchester City seriously? Ten games, generally considered to be the first point at which it is reasonable to make some sort of judgment, have now been played and the knowledgeable - and to some extent patronizing - smiles which greeted their initial burst of form are beginning to fade with every match they win.

The answer is "not yet", according to Sven-Goran Eriksson. The Swede not only looks like a benign science teacher but gives the impression of a man conducting an experiment. "Chelsea next Saturday will be a very good test for us and I'm curious to see what happens over Christmas and the new year," he said, with characteristic mild detachment.

"A lot of our players are not used to playing at that time of year, they have always had a break. And then to see how good our squad is because you play every second or third day for some weeks."

In the meantime, however, it is a case of rotation schmotation: he will keep sending out more or less the same team and see if they keep picking up three points. "When you have a good run, you don't change the team. We're not playing in Europe, so we don't have that fatigue; our next game is Saturday," he pointed out, as if talking to 4C.

Keeping it simple while he can is only part of what is making Eriksson's City tick, of course. Two more elements, judging by Saturday's efforts, are equally important, namely luck - the referee appeared to miss an obvious foul in the build-up to their goal and Birmingham would have leveled had Fabrice Muamba's shot not hit the goalkeeper, Joe Hart, who knew little about it - and Elano.

The 26-year-old, signed by Eriksson for £8m from Shakhtar Donetsk, has been a revelation, not so much for his brilliance, which is almost expected of Brazilians, as for his remarkable consistency. Birmingham had done their homework but their man-marker, Mehdi Nafti, was confounded by Elano's ability, vision and appetite for the fray. Perhaps he will fade when the cold weather kicks in, if it does, or, as Eriksson posited, be ground down by sheer number of games but he played on Saturday having arrived back in Manchester only at Friday lunchtime, after scoring for Brazil against Ecuador in Rio on Wednesday. His goal, his fourth in three games for City, might not have been as spectacular as some of his previous efforts but the low left-foot shot from around 10 yards was hit with absolute certainty.

"I asked him how he was, he said 'fine' and he was," said Eriksson. "I don't think we've seen his best yet but, if he goes on as he's playing, I'm happy. Very happy." The experience left Steve Bruce feeling distinctly bruised. "We didn't deserve to get beat, that's for sure," sighed the Birmingham manager. "That's the fourth manager who's said what a really good young team we have but it's all very well getting pats on the back, we have to pick up points."

Having castigated the referee, Mike Dean, for not giving a foul by Michael Johnson on Muamba before Elano scored, Bruce turned his attention to his own position, apparently precarious as the proposed takeover by the Hong Kong-based businessman Carson Yeung rumbles on.

"I'll be at the training ground this week, so hopefully I'll be available [for a meeting] but it needs to be sorted," said Bruce. "You could see by our performance the situation hasn't got to the team yet but we all know instability has a way of filtering through eventually."

Man of the match Elano

Man-marked throughout but intelligent movement and impressive work-rate ensured he saw plenty of the ball and usually created something with it, whether for a team-mate or a chance at goal.

Best moment: Took his goal wonderfully but the turn and touch to put Martin Petrov clear in the 11th minute will live long in the memory.