A flurry of four goals in six first-half minutes helped Manchester City on their way to a 5-1 win at home to Birmingham City.
City strengthened their hold on fourth place thanks to two goals from Carlos Tevez, two from Emmanuel Adebayor and one from Nedum Onuoha, while Cameron Jerome replied for Birmingham in a frantic spell at the end of the first period.
Midfielder Patrick Vieira suffered an injury in the warm-up and had to be replaced in the starting line-up by Nigel De Jong.
The Dutchman was left out because he has been booked nine times this season – another yellow card would have incurred a two-match ban, ruling him out of next weekend’s derby against Manchester United.