Two late goals from Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero rescued a stale Manchester City, who depended on their stars to seal a 2-0 win over a stubborn Aston Villa side at Villa Park.
The result was harsh on the hosts, who had marshalled the defending champions superbly throughout the 90 minutes.
Despite dominating proceedings there was a distinct lack of intensity in City’s play, but, while they squandered chance after chance in front of goal, all they needed was two pieces of magic to claim all three points.
Toure was a largely anonymous figure during the game, but popped up when needed to curl a shot past Brad Guzan with eight minutes left, while Aguero – who hit the post earlier in the match – smashed in an unstoppable effort moments later to hand City their fourth victory of the season.
Attending supporters saw very little action in a drab first-half, with neither team landing a shot on target.
City started the better, though, and were denied by the woodwork early on when Aleksandar Kolorov’s rasping drive nicked the outside of the post.
The Serb was perhaps Manuel Pellegrini’s brightest performer in the first 45 minutes, though his team-mates couldn’t give the finish his whipped crosses and penetrating passes in and around the box deserved.
Edin Dzeko was next to squander a chance, firing over from close-range, but Villa didn’t sit back and proved lively on the counter, with Toure having to bolt into his own box to deny Andreas Weimann from getting his shot away.
Defender Nathan Baker was also a constant thorn in City’s side, as his well-timed tackles thwarted the likes of Aguero, Dzeko and the impressive David Silva, and while City did have a flurry of chances on the stroke of half-time, Paul Lambert’s men managed to hold on.
The Premier League holders came quickly out of the half-time blocks, with Aguero twice going close and once hitting the post with an arrowed hit, though Villa maintained pressure themselves with another swift counter-attacking move.
The game's first shot on target came from Silva, who swivelled in the box before getting his shot away, though Guzan was equal to the Spain international’s effort.
That effort seemed to boost City’s confidence as they began to pepper Villa’s box, with Pellegrini’s men registering a hearty 27 efforts on goal.
Villa weren’t out of it though, and Lambert may have been left to curse Charles N'Zogbia’s lack of vision as, having bamboozled defenders with a bustling run, he failed to pick out Weimann in acres of space on the edge of the box and eventually ran down a blind alley.
But the Blues continued to pile forward, with centre-back Eliaquim Mangala testing Guzan with a power header, and their patience was rewarded with two quick goals in the last ten minutes as the Villans’ plucky resistance finally relented.
Toure has so far failed to rediscover his best form since a summer of wild speculation over his future, but this was a classic finish from the Ivorian powerhouse as he ran into a rare gap in Villa’s defence and tucked a neat shot past the American stopper.
And the game was put well a truly to bed two minutes from time, Aguero this time finding himself in a patch of space near the box and firing an arrowed strike into the top corner for his 81st goal for the club.
It was a cruel finale for Aston Villa, who no doubt deserved more from the game, but City’s expensively assembled side eventually came out trumps as they closed the gap on table topping Chelsea to just two points.