WILL they or won’t they anoint him? Since the defeat at Tottenham in caretaker manager Stuart Peace’s first game in charge, Manchester City are unbeaten. After yesterday’s sometimes swashbuckling victory over a lacklustre Portsmouth, a Uefa Cup place next season is unlikely but not as impossible as it seemed when Pearce ascended the debt-ridden throne.

“It would be easy to quash that speculation,” observed Pearce. “But we could be in Europe next season, so let’s strive for it. Why shouldn’t I put pressure on myself and the players?”

On Friday, Pearce was interviewed again by chairman John Wardle and if City do not offer him the job, he will walk. Few, including the inspirational Richard Dunne, who signed a new contract last week expecting Pearce to manage him, believe such action will be necessary. “I honestly believe I’ll be here next season,” Pearce said. “Winning is doing no harm.”

To avoid relegating themselves, Portsmouth needed a point, plus a Byzantine combination of freak results from the teams below them. They are now safe, albeit ingloriously, but they were intermittently wretched yesterday, and Alain Perrin will have learned much.

Injuries offered a chance to Aliou Cisse, Diomansy Kamara and, starting for the first time, Aleksander Rodic. None prospered and what will be a summer of swift and painful surgery begins this week when Perrin, chairman Milan Mandaric and executive director Velimir Zelic discuss personnel.

Having prised open Southampton’s trap-door to the Championship last week, Portsmouth, it transpired, were already mentally packing their buckets and spades. City, though, were wide awake.

Finally looking fully fit after his knee operation, Shaun Wright-Phillips tore into Matthew Taylor, who had neither the pace nor the inclination to stop him. When City went ahead in the fourth minute, it seemed overdue.

Robbie Fowler lobbed over a corner and Jamie Ashdown flapped as Dunne headed down towards his captain Sylvain Distin, who nodded carefully into goal.

Pearce prowled the technical area, and even at one point — to the amusement of fans if not the visiting bench, to whom he apologised — obstructing a Taylor throw-in.

Then, Fowler rolled back the years and curled a free kick past Ashdown. As City kept a third consecutive clean sheet, by the end the stadium was half empty. Or as an optimist such as Pearce would say, half full.

STAR MAN: Claudio Reyna (Manchester City)

Player ratings. Manchester City: James 6, Onuoha 7, Dunne 7. Distin 7, Jordan 6 (Thatcher h-t, 7), S Wright-Phillips 7, Reyna 8, Barton 6, Musampa 6 (Mills 87min, 5), Fowler 8 (Croft 68min, 6), Sibierski 6

Portsmouth: Ashdown 6, Primus 6, Stefanovic 6, De Zeeuw 6, Cisse 5 (Mezague 85min, 5), Hughes 5, O’Neil 5, Taylor 4, Yakubu 5, Kamara 6, Rodic 4 (Fuller 68min, 5)

Scorers: Manchester City: Distin 4, Fowler 16

Referee: A Marriner

Attendance: 46,454

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