Joe Cole and Trevor Sinclair gave England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson something to think about as they ran the show against sorry Sunderland.

Cole followed up his impressive display in midweek for his country by mesmerising Peter Reid's struggling team, while Sinclair scored the first goal and set up the second for Hammers skipper Steve Lomas and the third for Jermain Defoe.

Cole also had the ball in the back of the net, but it was controversially ruled out for offside.

Tord Grip, Eriksson's right-hand man, was at Upton Park to witness the show, which also saw Michael Carrick put in another mature performance and goalkeeper David James keep a clean sheet.

Cole is the sort of player whose skill can turn matches, and the nearest thing Eriksson has to a young Paul Gascoigne, so he can do far worse than name him in his 23-man squad to travel to Korea and Japan next month.

Sinclair is hoping to earn a place as one England's midfielders, especially with skipper David Beckham recovering from his foot injury.

West Ham's leading scorer Frederic Kanoute went down with an illness shortly before kick-off, so Sinclair was pressed into action as an emergency striker and did not let anyone down.

He fired the goal which gave the Hammers a 28th-minute lead, then supplied the 52nd-minute pass for Lomas to score the second goal and also set up Defoe for the third in the 77th minute.

The victory moved Glenn Roeder's men to 50 points for the season and firmly in seventh place, a remarkable turn-around from their early struggles, and it is a long time since the home fans have seen such flowing football or sung so enthusiastically.

Sunderland, on the other hand, are still not mathematically safe from relegation.

They looked a poor side in their 150th Premiership match, although manager Reid - who has been in charge for all those games - should have enough to steer them to safety, especially as they still have to face relegated Derby.

But his cause was not helped by the fact he lost both strikers - Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips - through injury in the second half.

West Ham had the ball in the back of the net after six minutes, but the 'goal' was controversially ruled out for offside.

Sinclair crossed low from the right and Cole nipped in to steer it home from six yards.

The home team celebrated and even the announcer proclaimed the midfielder's strike, but nobody had noticed the flag of the assistant linesman which went up immediately. Television replays suggested Cole was unlucky to have his effort ruled out.

Cole turned on the style and it was one-way traffic, so it was no surprise when Sinclair provided the opening goal in the 28th minute.

Sebastian Schemmel, who before kick-off picked up the Hammers News magazine Player of the Year award, dominated down the right and he chipped the ball into the box into the path of Sinclair.

He steadied himself before drilling the ball inside the far post, although Thomas Sorensen got a touch.

Sunderland should have equalised after 42 minutes when Joachim Bjorklund went up for a corner and somehow failed to make contact when left unchallenged on the six-yard line.

Sunderland were all over the place at the start of the second half and West Ham took full advantage by doubling their lead in the 52nd minute.

Cole fed Sinclair on the right, he pulled the ball back across the face of goal and Lomas buried the ball in the bottom-right corner, scoring for the second successive home game.

Quinn departed after 57 minutes to be replaced by Kevin Kyle, and it got worse for Sunderland after 70 minutes when Phillips was carried off on a stretcher.

He had been caught from behind by Ian Pearce's reckless tackle, and the big defender rightly picked up a yellow card.

West Ham wrapped up a good day's work in the 77th minute. Lomas crossed from the right, Sinclair nodded it back at the far post and Defoe headed home from a yard out.

Carrick had a golden chance to make an extra impression when clean through in injury-time, but his shot was tipped over by Sorensen.

Teams

West Ham James, Schemmel (Labant 84), Pearce, Repka, Dailly, Winterburn, Carrick, Lomas, Cole, Sinclair, Defoe (Garcia 79).

Hislop, Potts, Courtois.

Repka, Schemmel, Pearce.

Sinclair 28, Lomas 52, Defoe 77.

Sunderland Sorensen, Williams, Craddock, Bjorklund, McCartney, Thirlwell (Butler 53), McCann, Reyna, Kilbane, Phillips (Schwarz 72), Quinn (Kyle 58).

Macho, Haas.

Schwarz, Bjorklund.

33,319

S Bennett (Kent).