Late night soccer round-up:Carlos Tevez raised Manchester City's hopes of a Champions League slot with a quick fire hat-trick in a 3-0 win against ten-man Wigan at Eastlands. Gary Caldwell's sending off in the 55th minute proved the catalyst after he was handed a straight red card for a challenge on Tevez.
The Argentinian striker took advantage to score his treble in the space of 13 minutes to take City above Liverpool and into fifth place.
City carved out a half chance in the second minute when Pablo Zabaleta picked out Emmanuel Adebayor in the penalty area but he failed to trouble Vladimir Stojkovic in the Wigan goal, his effort going wide of the target.
City kept up the pressure and almost went ahead a minute later when Shaun Wright-Phillips delivered the ball into the path of Carlos Tevez.
The Argentina striker whipped in a shot but Stojkovic made a stunning point-blank save and Titus Bramble swept the ball to safety.
Wigan looked dangerous going forward and Shay Given pushed Paul Scharner’s shot to safety after a free-kick from Marcelo Moreno had been deflected off the wall.
Scharner, who was covering a lot of ground, then cleared the bar with his effort in the 41st minute after good link up play between Hugo Rodallega and Moreno.
Roberto Mancini made one change at half-time in an attempt to break the deadlock, bringing on Craig Bellamy for Wright-Phillips.
Adebayor did find the net in the 47th minute but his effort was ruled out for offside after Stojkovic spilled Tevez’s shot.
City had a claim for a penalty dismissed in the 52nd minute when Caldwell appeared to handle under pressure from Bellamy.
And Wigan were reduced to ten men in the 55th minute with former Celtic defender Caldwell handed a straight red card as he tried to win the ball off Tevez.
City made the breakthrough in the 72nd minute after a mix up between Scharner and Stojkovic allowed Adebayor to get the slightest of touches in the penalty area.
That was enough to free Tevez, who made Wigan pay for their error with a clinical finish.
Adebayor should have added a second but Scharner made up ground before Tevez added a second in the 75th minute.
He scored at the back post after Vincent Kompany had flicked on a cross from Adam Johnson and completed his hat-trick in the 85th minute.
He skipped away from a tiring Scharner and Bramble to chip into the corner for his 25th goal of the season.
Meanwhile, Shola Ameobi returned from injury to fire Newcastleto within touching distance of the Premier League in a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forestat St James' Park.
Ameobi, who replaced the injured Andy Carroll four minutes after the break, blasted home a 71st-minute drive, and Jose Enrique’s first goal for the club in injury time all but killed off Forest’s hopes of automatic promotion.
Victory at Peterborough on Saturday would be enough to secure promotion if third-placed Forest, who have now lost their last eight away games, extended that to nine at Bristol City with the Magpies 13 points better off having played a game fewer.
It was Ameobi’s first appearance since February 9th and his first goal since St Stephen’s Day, but it was arguably the most important of his nine for the season to date.