West Brom 2 Manchester City 3
[gallery] A late rally from Albion was not enough to prevent defeat to in-form Manchester City at The Hawthorns.
City lead 2-0 at half-time through two fabulous team goals finished by Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure.
And Toure made it 3-0 from the penalty spot before an own-goal from visiting keeper Costel Pantilimon and Victor Anichebe's first Baggies goal made the scoreline respectable for Steve Clarke's men.
City had two early chances with Samir Nasri firing over from just inside the box and Aguero slotting a cross-shot wide from a neat Edin Dzeko lay-off.
But there was no reprieve for the Baggies on nine minutes when Aguero added the finishing touch to a fine City opener.
Dzeko's clever reverse pass caught Liam Ridgewell flat-footed and released and released Pablo Zabaleta on the overlap, and the Argentine's cross found Aguero, who buried his shot to put his side ahead.
Albion were restricted to shots from range as City continued to dominate, and the visitors doubled their lead on 24 minutes with another excellent team goal.
Samir Nasri released Dzeko on the left and his cross found Toure, who crept between two defenders and poked home a shot.
Albion responded well to the concession of the second goal and ended the first half with purpose.
And they might have halved the deficit as half-time approached as a clever pass by James Morrison released Chris Brunt, who crossed from the left to Shane Long, but the striker's first touch on the edge of the box lacked conviction as he was crowded out.
Early in the second half the Baggies were screaming for a penalty when Long darted between two defenders in the City area and went down.
But replays showed there was little contact from Kolarov.
Moments later a fabulous ball from Morrison found Morgan Amalfitano wide on the left, but his cross ballooned into the Birmingham Road End.
But there was no way through for Albion and City added a third goal with 16 minutes to play.
Aleksandar Kolarov was tripped in the area by Claudio Yacob and Toure blasted home the resulting penalty.
With five minutes remaining Albion pulled a goal back when Saido Berahino threaded a ball into substitute Matej Vydra, whose cross was hit by Kolarov against Pantilimon and bounced in for a own-goal.
And in stoppage-time they gave themselves hope of a point as Anichebe wriggled free of Martin Demichelis and beat Pantilimon with a good strike.
