Substitutes Mario Balotelli and James Milner scored the goals as Manchester City ended their miserable run against Everton with a 2-0 win at Eastlands yesterday.
Everton had won seven of the previous eight matches between the two teams, including four consecutive victories in Manchester.
However, Balotelli provided Roberto Mancini with a first victory over the Goodison Park club with a goal mid-way through the second half, before Milner added a second late on.
Photo: AFP
The victory saw City go one point clear of rivals Manchester United at the top of the table, although United need only a point from their game at Stoke to reclaim top spot.
City now head to Bayern Munich on Tuesday with five wins from their six Premier League matches this season.
Everton started brightly, with Jack Rodwell shooting narrowly wide from the edge of the area and Leighton Baines also going close after cutting in from the left flank.
City struggled to penetrate in the final third and only had a Sergio Aguero pass that just evaded David Silva to show for their early pressing.
They also threatened when Edin Dzeko surged through on to Phil Jagielka’s poor header, but the Bosnian’s touch past Tim Howard took him too wide.
Samir Nasri also drove wide from just outside the area as City looked to shake off their early anxiety, while Aguero shot wide after being picked out by Yaya Toure’s low pass.
Everton’s task was made harder when Rodwell, Phil Neville and Leon Osman were all cautioned in the space of a few minutes.
City manager Roberto Mancini hinted at his increasing frustration when he replaced Dzeko with Balotelli with an hour gone.
Everton then suffered a blow when Cahill, who came off second best in a challenge with Vincent Kompany, had to be replaced by Louis Saha with what looked to be an ankle injury.
However, mid-way through the second half, City finally made their breakthrough when Aguero cut in from the right and flicked the ball to Balotelli, who found the net from 20m via a deflection.
The hosts added a second when Silva clipped a sublime pass through and Milner guided a shot past Howard.
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