Premier League review and reaction:Manchester City stretched their lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League to five points after beating Bolton 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium. The hosts bombarded struggling Bolton's goal and got their reward after 23 minutes when Gael Clichy's strike flew past Adam Bogdan off Gretar Steinsson.
Roberto Mancini’s side doubled their lead when Mario Balotelli turned home Adam Johnson’s cross in the second half to seal a sixth straight win for the leaders.
The victory puts pressure on neighbours Manchester United, who will aim to reduce City’s lead with a win at Tottenham tomorrow.
Balotelli might have had a hat-trick in the first 13 minutes after hitting the post, shooting narrowly wide and then firing over.
"If you miss certain chances in these games, you can have a problem," Mancinisaid afterwards. "We missed five chances in 10 minutes - after 10 minutes we should have finished the game. But in the end it is important we won."
City's win puts the pressure back on second-placed rivals Manchester United ahead of their clash with Tottenham on Sunday but Mancini is not expecting any slip-ups from them.
He said: "I think United will win because they are a strong. If we want to win this championship we will need to win our next 10 games."
Balotelli may face a fine, however, if reports he broke a club curfew are true. The Italian international allegedly went on a night out in Liverpool which lasted until the early hours of yesterday morning. That would be a breach of Mancini's rules and the City boss has said he will investigate.
"This is Mario, I don't know whether this is true," he said. "I only heard about this at the stadium because I never read the newspaper. Tomorrow I will speak with him - I am really disappointed about this.
"It is not correct, not only for me and the squad but for him, because he is a professional player. He can't stay outside the house two days before a game until two o'clock. If it is true we will do the maximum fine that we can."
The pressure on Chelseamanager Andre Villas-Boas intensified as his team lost 1-0 to in-form West Bromat the Hawthorns.
Daniel Sturridge, so lively for England in midweek, wasted two golden chances to ease the pressure on his under-fire manager and he was made to pay for his profligacy as Gareth McAuley turned home Liam Ridgewell’s off-target shot eight minutes from time to give the Baggies the win.
Chelsea have now won only three of their last 12 League games and have slipped three points behind Arsenal in the battle for the final Champions League spot.
Afterwards, Villas-Boassaid: "Will this result increase pressure on me? You have to agree with it. We are in the same position, fifth, but we are now three points behind Arsenal.
"It is a big, big disappointment. Every defeat Chelsea suffers piles more pressure on any manager. Today it is acceptable that pressure piles on a bit more. We have responsibilities to the fans and the club and we did not perform."
Villas-Boas insisted it would not help his position being given public backing from Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
"I don't think so. At the moment we just have to go on with our job and everyone must do better, players and manager for sure on that one. We have to improve and there is no need for the owner to back us after such a poor display. Am I the right man for the job? Yes. I wouldn't have taken it if I didn't think that."
Arsenalbeat Liverpoolat Anfield thanks to yet another Robin van Persie rescue mission.
The Gunners, who beat bitter rivals Spurs 5-2 last weekend, went behind when Laurent Koscielny scored an own goal shortly after Dirk Kuyt missed a penalty for the hosts.
The Londoners fought back, though, equalising on the half hour through captain Van Persie, who then went on to snatch all three points with a superb injury-time strike — his 25th league goal of the season.
Wiganmanager Roberto Martinez endured a day to forget against his former team Swanseaas the league's bottom side suffered yet another defeat thanks to two superb strikes from Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Sigurdsson put the Swans ahead with a superb curling effort in first-half injury time before the former Reading man sealed the win with a 30-yard piledriver.
Highly-rated to Swansea midfielder Nathan Dyer, watched by England interim head coach Stuart Pearce, had a day to forget though as he was sent off for a late tackle on Jordi Gomez.
David Dunn stepped off the bench to snatch a point for Blackburnagainst Aston Villaat Ewood Park.
Villa looked set for a morale-boosting win when Charles N’Zogbia fired them ahead but Dunn denied Alex McLeish’s men all three points after heading home Bradley Orr’s cross with five minutes left.
Bobby Zamora scored a crucial equaliser for QPRagainst Evertonto prevent Mark Hughes' side from slipping to yet another defeat at Loftus Road.
Royston Drenthe slammed home a brilliant 25-yard strike to put the Toffees ahead and put Rangers on course for yet another defeat before Zamora came to the rescue just before the break.
Paul Lambert's Norwichsuffered their sixth away defeat of the season after going down to a second-half strike from Matthew Etherington at Stoke.
Etherington latched on to Cameron Jerome’s flick-on and smashed a shot past John Ruddy to give the Potters the win.
