LONDON, Feb 24, (AFP): 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. “We can’t think that it (the title race) is finished with 11 games to go,” said City manager Roberto Mancini. “It’s not my mentality or my players’ mentality and we need to play like today. Both goals were fantastic.” 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.

“When you lose, you have to be disappointed and this game was important for us because we could have been closer to Man City, but we cannot give up,” said Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez. “We have to fight for the top four because Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton are close behind.”
Both Mancini and Benitez flooded their sides with midfielders at the Etihad Stadium, while Benitez opted to leave John Terry and Fernando Torres on the bench.
City deployed Sergio Aguero as a lone striker and although he had to plough a lone furrow, it was the hosts who dominated the first half.
Visiting goalkeeper Petr Cech had to tip a header from Matija Nastasic over the bar, while Gary Cahill did well to block a goal-bound volley from Pablo Zabaleta.
City handed a rare start to Jack Rodwell and the midfielder threatened twice shortly before half-time, extending Cech with first a 25-yard drive and then a header from the resulting corner.
Chelsea were gifted an opportunity to open the scoring early in the second half when Hart was adjudged to have fouled Demba Ba, but the England goalkeeper redeemed himself with an excellent save from Lampard’s spot-kick.

Aguero dinked a shot onto the roof of the net before City’s enterprise finally told in the 63rd minute.
Toure collected a pass from David Silva and deftly evaded the attentions of four visiting defenders before shaping a shot around Cech that nestled in the bottom-right corner.
Tevez settled the encounter in style in the 85th minute, collecting the ball 22 yards from goal and arrowing a shot into the top-left corner.
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 taut game finally dissipated in the 79th minute, when an own goal by Jos Hooiveld put Newcastle 4-2 ahead and confirmed the hosts’ success.
Clawing back a huge deficit in the Premier League title race hasn’t been the only thing on Roberto Mancini’s mind.

The Manchester City manager made the unusual move of beginning his post-match news conference on Sunday after a victory over Chelsea by thanking outgoing Pope Benedict XVI for his eight years of service.
Hours earlier, Benedict had bestowed his final Sunday blessing of his pontificate on a cheering crowd in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. On Thursday, he will become the first pope to have resigned from the papacy in 600 years.
“For us, it is the last Sunday for our pope and I would like to say thank you to this pope for what he did in eight years,” Mancini said.
Mancini, a Catholic, visited the holy village of Medjugorje in Bosnia during the run-in to last season’s league title, which City won on the final day.
Meanwhile, Mancini also understands better than most the cliches about title races not being over until the final minute of the season and is therefore refusing to look at the Premier League table.
 The challenge of catching up with Alex Ferguson’s men and stopping them winning a 20th league title could have been too much in Mancini’s eyes.
“Maybe,” the Italian replied at a news conference when asked if a 15-point gap with 11 games left might have been a task too great.

“But I think football is finished when it’s finished, the last minute of the last game. It is clear if we arrive with four games to go and United are 12 points (ahead) it’s clear it is finished but our job is to continue to work.”
Having secured the title in the dying seconds of the season on goal difference from United last term after making up eight points in six games, Mancini has plenty of reason for optimism even if he is choosing to avoid looking at reality.
“I think now it is not important to look at the table, only to continue to work like today, to play well, to improve because we can improve,” he said.
“And maybe look at the table in one month, 40 days.”