Mark Noble has insisted that he is pleased with West Ham United's performance during Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Manchester City.

The Hammers were beaten at the Etihad Stadium as City clinched their second Premier League title in three years.

Despite losing the match, Noble believes that he and his teammates made their opponents work for the victory.

"We didn't want to come here and just roll over, though everyone was expecting us to. We knew we were going to have to defend. We watched Villa come here on Wednesday and they defended brilliantly for 60 minutes," the midfielder told the club's official website.

"But the quality City have is incredible and they always seem to score at home, as they did again on Sunday. So we knew what it was going to be like, they do that to every team that comes here. It was a fantastic atmosphere and I thought we defended well for half an hour, 40 minutes.

"They scored a goal out of nowhere and then it's their game to lose. It was an uphill battle against a team, at home, that only had to draw to win the league. They've got some of the best players in the world and that's why they've won the league."

West Ham finished the season in 13th place in the Premier League table.