By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Manchester City scored twice after the hour mark to earn a 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium, closing the gap to 12 points behind league-leaders Manchester United in the process.
United bested Queens Park Rangers by a 2-0 count on Saturday to move 15 points clear at the top of the Premiership, but Roberto Mancini's side showed some guile to come up with an important result, despite their sizable deficit in the league standings.
After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, things got physical in the second half and Chelsea had an outstanding chance to go in front in the 52nd minute when Demba Ba appeared to be in on goal alone, but was taken down by a challenge from City goalkeeper Joe Hart and awarded a penalty.
Frank Lampard stepped up to take the kick and hit it low and with pace for the bottom right corner, but Hart got down quickly and made a fantastic save.
Hart's save seemed to swing the momentum in the match in favor of the hosts, and they grabbed the lead in the 63rd minute through Yaya Toure, who worked his way into the Chelsea box and blasted a low, curling strike past a diving Petr Cech.
Second-half substitute Carlos Tevez secured the result for City five minutes from time when he ran onto a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and ripped an unbelievable strike into the top right corner, leaving Cech with no chance for a save.
City earned their 16th win of the season and improved to 56 points from 27 matches. They are still well behind United, but are also seven points in front of Chelsea, who remain in third place on 49 points.
Newcastle 4, Southampton 2
Newcastle, England - Newcastle United moved six points clear of the bottom three on Sunday, posting a 4-2 win over Southampton at St. James' Park.
Southampton got off to a fast start just three minutes in when Morgan Schneiderlin got a foot to a deft headed pass from Rickie Lambert and ripped it past Newcastle goalkeeper Robert Elliot.
The home side equalized 30 minutes later through Moussa Sissoko, who collected a loose ball in the box and fired it past Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc from close range. It was Sissoko's third goal for Newcastle since joining the Magpies last month.
Three minutes before the break, the hosts grabbed the lead at 2-1 as Papiss Cisse smashed it into the top portion of the net off a free kick.
Five minutes into the second half, Southampton found an equalizer when Lambert got on the end of a cross from Adam Lallana and slotted it home.
But Newcastle remained focused and went ahead again in the 67th minute when Yohan Cabaye converted a spot kick to make it 3-2.
The result was sealed 11 minutes from time when Southampton defender Jos Hooiveld directed one into his own net to give the Magpies the two-goal victory.
Newcastle rises to 14th place on 30 points with the result, while the Saints remain in 16th place with 27 points.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/city-handles-chelsea-at-the-etihad