Manchester City strolled to a 2-0 away victory over a toothless Tottenham Hotspur on Friday in the first fixture of a busy Easter weekend Premier League programme.
It was a bright performance by City, who looked by far the more interested of the two mid-table teams, and Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle will be feeling the pressure after the home fans showed their displeasure by jeering at the end of the match.
City had gone five hours without a goal but could have had three in the first three minutes as Tottenham's defence looked to be dozing in the unseasonal sunshine.
The first two chances were missed but French defender David Sommeil, unmarked in the six yard box for a corner, made no mistake to head City into the lead in the third minute.
Kasey Keller then made an excellent save to tip over a Shaun Wright-Phillips shot in the 18th minute as City continued to dominate.
There was more poor defensive work three minutes later, when miskicks from strike duo Nicolas Anelka and Robbie Fowler saw the ball fall to Joey Barton on the edge of the box and the 20-year-old midfielder sidefooted, via a deflection, into the net.
The hosts, booed off at halftime, showed some improvement in the second half, Hoddle giving a debut to Japanese international midfielder Kazuyuki Toda, on loan from Shimizu S-Pulse.
Their best chance came after 72 minutes when Robbie Keane's close-range shot cannoned off the knees of Peter Schmeichel but it was a rare taste of action for the Dane.
City too had further opportunities, the best of which was wasted by an out-of-sorts Fowler after 63 minutes, when he shot weakly at Keller.
"There were too many errors on the pitch, not enough passion about us, it was a bad day," Hoddle told Sky Sports TV.
"The bottom line is that it's unacceptable how we played. We have to improve on that performance. That is not good enough."
Despite the victory, City remain in 12th place, on 45 points, behind Southampton on goal difference.
Tottenham are eighth on 47 but while their hopes of a UEFA Cup place have long disappeared, City could still qualify via UEFA's Fair Play system.
England are currently top of the Fair Play league, which earns an extra UEFA Cup place.
The top four teams in the English Fair Play league look certain to qualify for Europe via competitive means, leaving City on course to play in Europe for the first time in a quarter of a century.
Keegan though, said his team did not deserve to be there.
"We are not good enough and I think that Glenn knows that with the injuries they've got possibly they're not good enough at the moment either. The league table doesn't lie," he said."
However, Keegan was pleased with is team's efforts on Friday.
"I thought we set our standards early on today and got what we deserved," he said.
"We were much the liveliest team for large parts of the game and possibly, if there is a criticism, we might have created and scored a lot more goals."
The rest of the premier league are in action on Saturday with another eight fixtures on Monday.
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