City fight back against Swansea to stay in the title hunt

Premier League champions Manchester City fought back after Wilfried Bony’s early goal for Swansea to earn a precious three points at the Etihad Stadium, keeping the gap behind league-leaders Chelsea down to eight points.

Despite Vincent Kompany’s return to the starting line-up, the home side’s static defence was at fault as Swansea took the lead after just eight minutes, as Wilfried Bony collected Nathan Dyer’s flicked ball over the defence before slotting home.

The home side were clearly stirred by conceding and soon found an equaliser when Stevan Jovetic converted Jesus Navas’ cross from close range.

Swansea sat very deep from then on, often limiting City to long-range shots, before Yaya Toure’s powerful run into the box made the telling difference with 62 minutes on the clock.

The Ivorian midfielder latched onto Fernandinho’s clever backheel, burst past one tackle and then fired in low past Lukasz Fabianski to seal the win.

8’- GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Swansea City. Bony scores and it's a beautiful team goal! The Ivorian feeds the ball to Nathan Dyer in the build-up, with the winger then flicking it to Bony back over Manchester City's very square defence. The striker simply side-foots past Hart to give the Swans a shock lead!

18’ - GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 Swansea City. A whipped in cross from Navas finds Jovetic six yards out from goal, and the striker slams it in. It was another case of static defending, this time from Swansea, as Navas was allowed plenty of space to deliver his cross.

23’ - OUCH: There's a horrible thud as Bartley clatters into Aguero. It's a needless tackle from behind. The home fans are furious and, after plenty of deliberation, referee Neil Swarbrick gives the defender a yellow card.

40’ - OFF THE POST: Clichy hits the post! It's a beautiful hit from 25 yards out and so close to a rare goal for the full-back. His old Arsenal teammate Fabianski got a touch on it, a fantastic save!

53’ - DIVE: Jovetic is lucky not to be booked for diving, as he goes down very late after a tackle from Bartley.

61’ - GOAL! Manchester City 2-1 Swansea City. The champions have their goal! Fernandinho finds Yaya Toure in the box with a clever backheel and the Ivorian powers past some desperate Swansea lunges to slide the ball home. Outstanding goal.

87’ – GREAT CHANCE: Gomis has an incredible chance to score as he's played through on goal, but his finish goes hopelessly wide.

Manchester City have only lost to Swansea City at home once in their history.

Swansea have conceded the highest percentage of second-half goals in the Premier League this season.

Can Manchester City close the gap on Chelsea? This was not a stylish win for the Premier League champions, but it was a very important once. If they show more of the fighting spirit that they did after Bony’s early goal then they could still cause Chelsea some problems.

Samir Nasri (Manchester City): The Frenchman’s intricate passing and clever movement helped Manchester City overwhelm Swansea as they fought back for the win.

Manchester City: Hart 6, Zabaleta 7, Demichelis 6, Kompany 6, Clichy 7, Jesus Navas 7, Y Toure 8, Fernandinho 7, Nasri 8, Jovetic 7, Aguero 7. SUBS: Fernando 6, Milner 6, Lampard 6.

Swansea City: Fabianski 7, Rangel 6, Williams 7, Bartley 6, Taylor 6, Ki Sung-yueng 7, Carroll 6, Montero 6, Sigurdsson 6, Dyer 6, Bony 7. SUBS: Shelvey 6, Gomis 5, Barrow 7.