BPL: Football: Man City leave Chelsea trailing, Newcastle edge Saints

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Manchester City galvanised their grip on second place in the Premier League and trimmed Manchester United's lead back to 12 points with a 2-0 victory at home to nearest rivals Chelsea on Sunday.

After Chelsea's Frank Lampard had seen a penalty saved by England colleague Joe Hart, City prevailed through a pair of fine second-half goals from man-of-the-match Yaya Toure and substitute Carlos Tevez.

Although City's chances of retaining their league title remain decidedly slender, they now have a seven-point advantage over Chelsea, who could slip to fourth if Tottenham Hotspur overcome West Ham United on Monday.

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In the day's other game, Newcastle edged relegation rivals Southampton 4-2 in a topsy-turvy game at St James' Park that took Alan Pardew's side six points clear of the bottom three.

In honour of their growing French contingent, Newcastle had dubbed the day 'French Day', handing out berets to their supporters and playing the French national anthem prior to kick-off.

However, it was a Frenchman in a red shirt who broke the deadlock, as midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin converted a Rickie Lambert knockdown to give Southampton a third-minute lead.

Newcastle's reaction was swift and in the 32nd minute they went ahead thanks to two French players of their own.

Yoan Gouffran forced a save from Artur Boruc after darting into the box from the left and when the ball ran across goal, Moussa Sissoko sped in to touch it over the line.

The hosts' momentum did not abate and in the 42nd minute they went ahead with a stunning goal, as Papiss Cisse cracked home a looping half-volley from 25 yards.

Newcastle lost captain Fabricio Coloccini to injury just before half-time and saw Southampton equalise five minutes into the second half when Lambert swept home a low cross from Adam Lallana.

However, Newcastle hit back once again and took the lead for the second time in the game when Yohan Cabaye converted a 67th-minute penalty awarded for a handball by Danny Fox.

The suspense in a stretched game finally dissipated in the 79th minute, when an own goal by Jos Hooiveld put Newcastle 4-2 ahead and confirmed the hosts' success.

Barclays Premier League

Rnk		Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	+/-	Pts
1		Manchester United	27	22	2	3	64	31	33	68
2		Manchester City	27	16	8	3	50	24	26	56
3		Chelsea	27	14	7	6	55	30	25	49
4		Tottenham Hotspur	26	14	6	6	44	30	14	48
5		Arsenal	27	13	8	6	52	30	22	47
6		Everton	27	10	12	5	41	34	7	42
7		West Bromwich Albion	27	12	4	11	38	36	2	40
8		Liverpool	27	10	9	8	49	34	15	39
9		Swansea City	27	9	10	8	38	34	4	37
10		Stoke City	27	7	12	8	26	32	-6	33
11		Fulham	27	8	8	11	37	42	-5	32
12		Norwich City	27	7	11	9	27	41	-14	32
13		West Ham United	26	8	6	12	29	38	-9	30
14		Newcastle United	27	8	6	13	38	48	-10	30
15		Sunderland	27	7	8	12	29	36	-7	29
16		Southampton	27	6	9	12	38	49	-11	27
17		Wigan Athletic	27	6	6	15	33	51	-18	24
18		Aston Villa	27	5	9	13	26	52	-26	24
19		Reading	27	5	8	14	33	51	-18	23
20		Queens Park Rangers	27	2	11	14	19	43	-24	17