City drub Wanderers

Jerome strike helps Birmingham pip Stoke 1-0

City, who gave new manager Mancini a winning start with a 2-0 victory over Stoke on Saturday, followed that up with a superb performance at Wolves with Carlos Tevez scoring twice and another from Javier Garrido, who scored with a free-kick.

Argentina striker Tevez’s 33rd and 86th minute goals sandwiching Javier Garrido’s superb free-kick which the Spanish midfielder curled around the wall. Victory saw City move level on points with fifth-placed Aston Villa, who will go fourth if they beat Liverpool in Tuesday’s late night kick-off.

Chelsea's win over Fulham moved them five points clear at the top from Manchester United, although United have a match in hand against Wigan Athletic on Wednesday.
In-form Birmingham, now unbeaten in their last 11 league games, won 1-0 away to Stoke thanks to striker Cameron Jerome’s 50th minute goal.

Chelsea have 45 points from 20 games, followed by United on 42 from 19, Arsenal 38 from 19 and Spurs 37 from 20. Aston Villa are fifth with 35 from 20 followed by Manchester City who have 35 from 19.

Wales forward Craig Bellamy, who has been linked with a move away from the club following the controversial departure of Hughes, gave an inspired performance gave City their third successive league win.

Bellamy also played down talk of leaving the club: "On a personal level I have a lot of affection for Mark Hughes but its the nature of the business and you have to carry on. "We are definitely a club that is going places and I want to be a part of it as long as I can."

Wolves slipped back to 16th place after a second successive defeat but Mancini said: "We had to work very hard to beat them, they made it very difficult for us at the start."