If this is the kind of response Thaksin Shinawatra gets when he raises questions about the manager’s future, perhaps the Manchester City owner should cast doubt over Sven-Göran Eriksson’s job prospects every week.

Thaksin was not present at the City of Manchester Stadium yesterday, but the reports he will receive will doubtless be glowing. Whether such a marked improvement in City’s performance is enough to keep Eriksson in employment remains to be seen, but on this evidence, the former Prime Minister of Thailand would be unwise to dispense with the former England head coach.

A 3-1 victory over Portsmouth kept City’s slim hopes of European football alive, but it was the emphatic approval Eriksson received from the club’s supporters that offered a telling reminder of how deeply unpopular any decision to remove him would be.

“I’m not worried, absolutely not,” Eriksson said. “You can’t go around in life and be worried about things like that. I think I will still be here next season. I don’t think you can expect a young and new team to play brilliant football every week and compete with the four big clubs, and I think we are where we should be in the table. I’m very happy with the performance and it was nice to hear [a reception like that] from the fans.”

The game was an open, free-flowing affair that might easily have finished 7-4 in City’s favour. City squandered so many glaring opportunities that it seemed their profligacy might prove their undoing. Benjani Mwaruwari finally scored the decisive third goal with 16 minutes remaining, but anything other than a home win would have been a terrible injustice, even if Eriksson’s makeshift team were helped by Herman Hreidarsson’s dismissal.

There were five minutes of a pulsating first period still to play when, with his team 2-1 down, the Portsmouth defender pulled Darius Vassell to the ground. As the last man, and having denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, Hreidarsson had to be shown the red card by Andre Marriner.

The sending-off put City firmly in the driving seat, but Portsmouth had already contributed to their own downfall. Sol Campbell will not want to relive the two minutes during which City took a 2-0 lead. The England defender got himself in a terrible mix-up with David James, his goalkeeper, for the first. Both looked to the other to clear the ball, but neither did, allowing Benjani to steal in and find Stephen Ireland, whose cross-cum-shot was turned in by Vassell.

Worse was to follow for Campbell when Martin Petrov’s shot – a speculative stab of the right foot – deflected off the back of the defender’s calf and into the net. “We defended terribly,” Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, said.

Portsmouth reduced the deficit in the 24th minute when Lassana Diarra’s cross was headed on by Jermain Defoe to John Utaka, who poked the ball past the advancing Joe Hart, but City dominated thereafter.

Elano, who was deployed at right back because of a litany of injuries, Petrov and Ireland all excelled, but some fine approach play was not matched by a cool head in front of goal. Benjani, making his first appearance against Portsmouth since his departure in January, was the most culpable, squandering at least four clear chances before finally getting the goal his tireless efforts deserved. Cutting inside Sylvain Distin, enduring a miserable first return to City himself, the Zimbabwe striker drilled the ball home at the near post.

Redknapp claimed that his side should have been awarded a penalty after a challenge on Defoe by Richard Dunne, the City defender, who will have a scan today on the hamstring injury that forced his substitution. Sulley Muntari and Utaka both hit the woodwork for Portsmouth and Milan Baros and Sean Davis might easily have scored late on, but City were good value for the three points. Eriksson may well win Thaksin round yet.

How they rated

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): J Hart 7 Elano 7 V Corluka 6 R Dunne 6 M Ball 6 M Johnson 6 G Fernandes 7 D Vassell 7 S Ireland 7 M Petrov 8 Benjani Mwaruwari 7 Substitutes: S Williamson Y 6 (for Dunne, 54min), Geovanni (for Ireland, 75), F Caicedo (for Elano, 90). Not used: A Isaksson, N Castillo. Next: Fulham (h).

Portsmouth (4-1-4-1): D James 6 Lauren Y 5 S Campbell 4 S Distin 5 H Hreidarsson R 5 L Diarra 6 J Utaka 7 P Bouba Diop 6 S Muntari 7 N Kranjcar 6 J Defoe 6 Substitutes: M Baros (for J Utaka, 75min), L Aubey (for Bouba Diop, 75), S Davis (for Kranjcar, 83). Not used: A Begovic, D Nugent. Next: Blackburn Rovers (h).

Referee: A Marriner
Attendance: 40,205