It was Fulham that did for Sven-Göran Eriksson. Mark Hughes can only hope that he does not suffer the same fate as his predecessor as Manchester City manager after Roy Hodgson masterminded another comeback here to pile the pressure on his embattled counterpart.

Fulham’s fightback yesterday may not have been anything like as dramatic as it was last season, when they came from two goals behind to secure a 3-2 victory that would prove the spark for their miraculous escape from relegation, but it may be no less relevant as far as City are concerned.

Hughes retains the backing of Sheikh Mansour and, at the very least, the owner will give him a full summer in which to shape a squad that the Welshman believes at present to be not cut out mentally or physically for the rigours of the Barclays Premier League, but City’s season is in real danger of petering out.

The manager elected to start the match with Robinho on the substitutes’ bench and was greeted with cries of “You don’t know what you’re doing” and “Hughesy, sort it out” from a section of City fans when he opted for Ched Evans, rather than the mercurial Brazil forward, to replace Valeri Bojinov in the 55th minute.

When finally introduced with 26 minutes remaining, however, Robinho’s contribution was negligible and it seems likely that the player, who has not scored in 15 matches, will be offloaded in the summer provided that City can find a buyer.

“There will be people who make comments, but I have to pick the squad I have got and assess the fitness of the players in it,” Hughes said. “Shouting for players to come on is maybe simplistic. I’m just trying to protect players who have done the vast majority of the workload.

“Robinho has had a great first season, but this was the first opportunity I’ve had to give Robbie a break. Tired minds make mistakes and maybe this result was a consequence of that.”

Injuries and fatigue are undoubtedly playing their part, but the reality is that only Bolton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion have lost more games in the league this term and for several players the end of the season cannot come soon enough.

Just as had happened against Hamburg in the first leg of their Uefa Cup quarter-final in Germany on Thursday, Stephen Ireland gave them the lead against Fulham, only for another collection of ghastly individual blunders to cost Hughes’s team dear.

Ireland scored in the 28th minute, collecting Valeri Bojinov’s pass, ghosting forward and unleashing a shot from just outside the area that whistled into the top corner, but that was about the extent of the threat the home team posed.

Fulham had equalised within five minutes of the restart. Pablo Zabaleta lost the ball cheaply to Bobby Zamora, who was then tackled by Micah Richards only for the ball to fall kindly into the path of Clinton Dempsey to score the first of his two goals.

Sensing that the game was theirs for the taking, Fulham were in front soon after. Nedum Onuoha’s weak clearance from Paul Konchesky’s cross travelled only as far as Nigel de Jong, who got himself in a tangle, allowing Dickson Etuhu to strike a fierce shot into the top corner.

Fulham plundered a third with seven minutes remaining. Dunne dived in needlessly near the halfway line in a rash attempt to intercept the ball, leaving Konchesky with time and space to pass the ball to Zamora, who threaded the ball through to Dempsey to finish with aplomb.

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): S Given 5 - M Richards 4, R Dunne 3, N Onuoha 5, J Garrido 5 - P Zabaleta 5, N de Jong 5 - K Etuhu 5, S Ireland 7, M Petrov 5 - V Bojinov 5. Substitutes: C Evans 5 (for Bojinov, 55min), D Sturridge 6 (for Etuhu, 64), Robinho 5 (for Petrov, 64). Not used: J Hart, Elano, G Fernandes, R McGivern. Next: West Brom (h).

Fulham (4-4-2): M Schwarzer 6 - J Paintsil 6, A Hughes 7, B Hangeland 6, P Konchesky 6 - S Davies 6, D Murphy 6, D Etuhu 6, C Dempsey 7 - A Johnson 7, R Zamora 6. Substitutes: D Kamara (for Zamora, 86min), Z Gera (for Dempsey, 86), O Dacourt (for Murphy, 89). Not used: P Zuberbühler, E Nevland, F Stoor, C Baird. Next: Middlesbrough (a).

Referee: M Halsey Attendance: 39,841