Manchester City 3 Tottenham 2: Mario Balotelli makes Spurs pay

Mario Balotelli's injury-time penalty saw Manchester City edge a five-goal thriller with Tottenham.But there could be a nasty sting in the tail for the Italian after he seemed to catch Scott Parker in the face with a needless kick.Not that any disciplinary problems will bother City's supporters as they celebrated what could be a priceless victory in the title race. Winner: Mario Balotelli fires home a late penalty to earn Manchester City all three points against TottenhamMATCH FACTSMan City: Hart, Richards, Savic, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, Milner, Silva, Aguero, Nasri, Dzeko (Balotelli, 65)Subs not used: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Johnson, Kolarov, Onuoha, De JongGoals: Nasri 56, Lescott 59, Balotelli 90+5 (pen)Booked: Clichy, Balotelli, ParkerTottenham: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon (Pienaar, 88), Parker, Modric, Bale, Van der Vaart (Livermore 67), Defoe. Subs not used: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Bassong, Dawson, Kranjcar.Goals: Defoe 60, Bale 65Booked: ParkerReferee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire)After a goalless first half, the Blues were in control when Samir Nasri and Joleon Lescott struck.But Jermain Defoe profited from Stefan Savic's mistake almost immediately before Gareth Bale levelled with a magnificent curling shot.Spurs seemed more likely winners after that.But when Defoe could only turn an injury-time Bale cross narrowly wide as he slid in at the far-post, it gave Balotelli a chance to win the match after he had been fouled by Ledley King.It maintained City's 100 per cent home record this season and piles the pressure on their rivals, who are all playing catch-up.Knowing they would be eight points behind if they lost and with personal knowledge of the havoc City are capable of causing following that humiliating 5-1 defeat in August, Tottenham had good cause to make it a tight affair.Bale threatened on a couple of occasions, and should have made more of the position he found himself in when he checked inside James Milner's sliding tackle.Fan-tastic: Manchester City supporters celebrated Samir Nasri's goal with the Poznan But Tottenham did not force Joe Hart into a meaningful save in the opening 45 minutes, Scott Parker and Younes Kaboul both firing well wide with long-range efforts.It took City some time to get going, and even then they were only a sporadic threat.However, in Sergio Aguero they had the game's most obvious first goalscorer.Net gain: Defender Joleon Lescott bundled the ball over the line for City's second goal The club record ?38million front-man has looked tired in recent games as he attempted to shoulder the goalscoring burden. Here though, he excelled.Having had Edin Dzeko nick the ball off his foot when he was lining up a shot at Wigan on Monday, the South American must have been dismayed when the same team-mate got in the way of his efforts to turn home David Silva's cutback.Aguero's best opportunity came not long afterwards.

Source: Daily_Mail