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Toure double boosts City's title charge as Spurs slip up

Yaya Toure scored twice for City © PA Photos

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Manchester City put one hand on the Premier League title as they dealt Newcastle's hopes of a top-four spot a blow with victory at St James' Park thanks to two goals from Yaya Toure, while Manchester United kept the heat on by beating Swansea. At the other end of the table Bolton threw away a two-goal lead as they were held by West Brom, while QPR grabbed a crucial late goal to beat Stoke.

Manchester City are in the driving seat with one game remaining as they held their nerve to secure a hard-fought 2-0 win over Newcastle United at St James' Park.

Yaya Toure's brace saw Roberto Mancini's side maintain their lead at the top of the table, with goal difference keeping their necks ahead of rivals United. City are eight goals better off, with a home fixture against QPR to come.

With so much at stake, Mancini opted to keep his starting XI unchanged from the side that beat United last time out, leaving unpredictable striker Mario Balotelli out of the side altogether.

Newcastle were flying high from their win at Chelsea in midweek, but they struggled to assert themselves in the early stages as Tim Krul kept David Silva at bay before scuttling across goal to keep out Carlos Tevez' free-kick.

The home side began to find their feet, Gael Clichy and Joe Hart denying Demba Ba and Hatem Ben Arfa, but at the other end Davide Santon denied Gareth Barry. After seeing his initial effort blocked by Fabricio Coloccini, Barry saw his rebounded effort cleared off the line by Santon.

After a goalless first-half, Mancini brought on Nigel de Jong on for Samir Nasri, allowing Toure to move into a more advanced role. And it proved to be a masterstroke, as the Ivorian played a one-two with Sergio Aguero before curling a first-time strike past a diving Krul.

Aguero missed a gilt-edged opportunity to put the result beyond Newcastle after being released by Silva, but slid his effort inches wide of Krul's left post. Toure missed two chances to double his goal tally - his glancing header flashing wide before slipping when one-on-one with Krul, but he sealed the win two minutes from time with a cool finish past the Newcastle keeper.

Emmanuel Adebayor levelled for Tottenham © PA Photos

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Manchester United failed to make a significant dent into City's goal-difference advantage as they beat Swansea 2-0 at Old Trafford. A scrappy goal from Paul Scholes opened the scoring before the break, before Ashley Young's neat finish made it two.

Tottenham failed to move into third place as they were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. Arsenal's draw at Norwich on Saturday gifted Spurs the chance to overtake their North London rivals, but they were forced to play much of the second half with ten men after Danny Rose's red card.

Spurs dominated the early stages at Villa Park, but fell behind to Ciaran Clark's deflected strike. With Villa struggling to keep the ball, Clark's speculative effort from 30 yards took a wicked deflection off William Gallas and sailed into Brad Friedel's top left hand corner.

Spurs desperately tried to claw their way back; William Gallas' header from Rafael van der Vaart's corner was kept out by Stephen Warnock and Carlos Cuellar, before Van der Vaart's 20-yard strike whistled past Shay Given's post.

Tottenham's day went from bad to worse when Danny Rose was sent off for a lunge on former Spurs player Alan Hutton, and although they pulled a goal back through Emmanuel Adebayor, netting from the penalty spot after Sandro was brought down by Richard Dunne, they could not find a way through.

Bolton Wanderers remain in the bottom three after they threw away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw with West Brom at the Reebok Stadium. Martin Petrov fired Bolton ahead from the spot after Mark Davies was brought down by Youssuf Mulumbu.

The Trotters enjoyed a huge slice of luck when doubling their lead thanks to Billy Jones' own goal. Liam Ridgewell's attempted clearance ricocheted off team-mate Jones and flashed past Ben Foster. But Bolton's luck ran out as the Baggies clawed their way back into the match, Chris Brunt pulling one back for the Baggies three minutes later, before James Morrison's last-minute goal dealt a major blow to Wanderers' survival hopes.

Bolton are now two points behind Queens Park Rangers after Djibril Cisse's late goal secured a crucial 1-0 win against Stoke. Cisse scored his fifth goal for the club, netting from close range after Anton Ferdinand's near-post flick from Adel Taarabt's corner to keep Rangers out of the relegation zone.

Wolves may have nothing left to play for after already being consigned to the Championship, but they produced a gutsy defensive display to keep a lively Everton side at bay as the sides played out a 0-0 draw at Molineux.

In a game with no real significance for either side, Fulham beat Sunderland 2-1 at Craven Cottage. Phil Bardsley's strike cancelled out Clint Dempsey's early free-kick, but Moussa Dembele secured three points for Martin Jol's men with a goal just a minute later.

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