Gael Clichy and Mario Balotelli push Manchester City five points clear at top

The hosts bombarded struggling Bolton’s goal and they eventually got their reward after 23 minutes when Gael Clichy’s strike flew past Adam Bogdan off Gretar Steinsson to give Roberto Mancini’s side the lead. Mario Balotelli, pictured, turned home Adam Johnson’s cross in the second half to seal a sixth straight win for the leaders.

The pressure on Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas intensified as his team lost 1-0 to in-form West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.

Gareth McAuley turned home Liam Ridgewell’s off-target shot eight minutes from time to give the Baggies the win.

Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez endured a day to forget against his former team Swansea City as the league’s bottom side suffered yet another defeat thanks to two superb strikes from Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Icelander put the Swans ahead with a superb curling effort in first-half injury time before the former Reading man sealed the 2-0 win with a 30-yard piledriver. Swansea midfielder Nathan Dyer, watched by England interim head coach Stuart Pearce, had a day to forget though as he was sent off for a late tackle on Jordi Gomez.

David Dunn stepped off the bench to snatch a point for Blackburn Rovers against Aston Villa at Ewood Park. Villa looked set for a morale-boosting win when Charles N’Zogbia fired them ahead but Dunn denied Alex McLeish’s men the points when he headed home Bradley Orr’s cross with five minutes left.

It was also 1-1 at Loftus Road as Bobby Zamora scored a crucial equaliser for QPR against Everton to prevent Mark Hughes’ side from slipping to yet another defeat. Royston Drenthe had slammed home a brilliant 25-yard strike to put the Toffees ahead.

Paul Lambert’s Norwich City suffered their sixth away defeat of the season when they went down 1-0 to a second-half strike from Matthew Etherington at Stoke City.