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Manchester City have sacked manager Mark Hughes and appointed Roberto Mancini on a three-and-half year contract.

City released a statement confirming Hughes, who has lost just two games this season, has had his contract terminated.

Hughes spent more than £100 million pounds on players during the close season in a spending spree fuelled by the petro-dollars of billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a bid to secure a Champions League place.

With the likes of Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz, Gareth Barry and Kolo Toure added to the squad, City were tipped as top-four contenders.

Even the dream of a first league title since 1968 seemed possible when they began the campaign with four consecutive wins, including a 4-2 home victory over Arsenal.

But a run of seven draws halted their early season momentum and Wednesday’s dismal 3-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur fuelled rumours that Mancini was being lined as the new manager.

City are currently sixth in the table.

Mancini, who made his name as a striker at Sampdoria, won three consecutive Serie A titles as coach of Inter Milan before being sacked at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Mancini was at Saturday’s Premier League game against Sunderland, which saw City beat Sunderland 4-3.

Hughes applauded all four sides of the stadium and looked grim-faced as he walked down the tunnel for the final time with his fate already sealed.

Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said on the club’s website after the game: “Prior to the current season beginning, with significant investment in players and infrastructure in place, the consensus between the Board and coaching staff was that appropriate agreed targets should be set for the 2009/2010 season.

“The targets were agreed as a result of the player acquisition strategy of the club being radically accelerated in the summer as a result of very favourable conditions for any buying club. It was also based on the fact that the infrastructure of the club had been overhauled completely at great cost in order to create the best possible environment for the team.

“A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set. Sheikh Mansour and the Board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change. This is a particularly difficult announcement given the personal investment over the past 15 months on all sides and we would like to put on record our respect for and thanks to Mark Hughes and we wish him the best in his future career.”

Brian Kidd will join Mancini as assistant manager with Hughes’ backroom staff of Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki, Kevin Hitchcock and Glyn Hodges also leaving the club.

“Roberto is a hugely experienced manager with a proven track record of winning trophies and championships. His experience and track record speak for themselves. What is absolutely clear is that Roberto believes in Manchester City’s potential to achieve at the highest level and importantly in his own ability to make this happen. My hope is that our incredible fans will join us in welcoming Roberto to the football club,” the statement finished.

2009-12-05: English Premier League
Manchester City 2-1 Chelsea

8′ [0 - 1] E.S. Adebayor (o.g.)
37′ [1 - 1] E.S. Adebayor
56′ [2 - 1] C.A. Tevez

Goal 1 E.S. Adebayor (o.g.)

 Goal 2 E.S. Adebayor
 

Goal 3 C.A. Tevez
 

Was it anger, frustration or merely embarrassment that led to Arsene Wenger storming off down the tunnel at Eastlands without shaking Mark Hughes's hand?

Wenger's misplaced belief in his latest crop of youngsters was shown up as Arsenal lost 3-0 to Manchester City in their Carling Cup quarter-final, their third defeat in their last four matches.

The Gunners have now shipped 10 goals in their last three trips to the City of Manchester Stadium, and Wenger left the dugout right on the final whistle, neglecting to congratulate his opposite number.

The beef had been bubbling under nicely throughout the match, and Wenger looked perturbed when Hughes encroached into his side of the technical area to kick a stray ball to one of his players.

Whatever message he was trying to send out, all he achieved was to add a little extra bonus to Sparky's evening. If Hughes is to become a top manager with City, regularly getting under the skin of one of his main rival bosses is a good way to start going about things.

Hughes described Wenger's reaction as "ungracious", barely suppressing a smile as he did so, but Wenger was indignant, sarcastically claiming he had no professional courtesy and reminding everyone just who the Champions League manager was out of the two.

He said, while wrapping Sanchez Watt and Craig Eastmond up in cotton wool for another season: "It is a competition for our younger players. If I don't play them here where would I play them?

"We played in the quarter-final of the Champions League last season against top teams. Playing in those matches is 10 times harder than playing in the Carling Cup."

City now face local rivals United in the last four, which is great news for them now that Alex Ferguson has promised to continue fielding some of his own fringe players.

They are now close to emulating those other nouveau riche gatecrashers, Chelsea, by making the Carling Cup the first reward for their obscene spending.

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For a player of just 18 years of age and two full appearances behind him, Gael Kakuta has already managed to gain extraordinary notoriety.

After the row over whether he was induced into signing for Chelsea led to the club's suspended transfer ban, Kakuta finally made an impressive debut against Wolves, but last night missed the decisive spot-kick as the Blues were knocked out of the Carling Cup at Blackburn.

The good thing about penalty shoot-outs is that you can play it how you want – either the keeper is a hero or the man who misses the deciding kick is the villain. Pillorying a teenager for failing to convert a penalty is a little harsh, but the extra spotlight on him gave his miss plenty of resonance.

All credit to Paul Robinson for his performance, including saving another kick from Michael Ballack (that's right, a German), but Kakuta's shot straight at the keeper led to Chelsea's sixth defeat in their last seven shootouts. In this day and age, however, he is unlikely to find solace in a pizza commercial.

Just as Alberto Aquilani's half-hour of playing time for Liverpool has seen the Reds crash out of the Carling Cup, Champions League and scrape a disappointing draw with Birmingham in the league, Chelsea fans may just be wondering if it's really worth all the bother.

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Everton cruised into the last 128 of the Europa League with a 1-0 win at AEK Athens, but the win came at a cost. The Toffees can now add Jo, Sylvain Distin and Dan Gosling to their ridiculously long injury list.

David Moyes did his best to see the bright side of the dodgy Olimpiako Stadio pitch, saying: "It was like back to the old days. I would have enjoyed it in my playing days but I don't know how some of the players felt about the conditions out there." 

Never mind playing all these extra matches in Europe, at the rate Everton continue to accrue injuries they should think of pulling out of all football for a while, otherwise they'll end up having to field two goalkeepers,  just as Gillingham did on Tuesday night.

As for Celtic, they crashed out of Europe despite a 2-0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv. Still, as they lie third in Group C they are the best-placed candidates to drop down into the next level of competition, the All-Lanarkshire U12s trophy.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I have nothing to say. I am free to shake hands with whom I want" – Wenger's moody response when asked why he failed to extend Mark Hughes any professional courtesy.

FOREIGN VIEW: "One sees that they do not support that we become leaders and when Barça beat Madrid. Notice that they must take secret, treacherous photos and later publish with the intention of disparaging me. We were within the framework of a private celebration. We celebrated with friends the team's victory over Real Madrid. This is the character of the Spanish media. This harms the right to the privacy, it has no integrity and a lack of professional ethics" – Marca reports Barcelona chief Joan Laporta slamming the press for publishing pictures of his wild post-Clasico celebrations, handily illustrated with a couple of said pictures.  

COMING UP: There is one more bit of Brit-based Europa League action this evening, with Fulham still very much in the Group E mix. Follow LIVE text commentary of the Cottagers' clash with CSKA Sofia from 20:00.