No problems for Manchester City

LONDON (AP):Manchester City moved on from the midweek turmoil of Carlos Tevez's apparent refusal to play with a resounding 4-0 victory at Blackburn in the Premier League yesterday.

City remain joint top of the standings alongside cross-town rivals Manchester United, who struggled to a 2-0 win over Norwich.

Adam Johnson, Mario Balotelli, Samir Nasri and Stefan Savic all scored second-half goals to ensure City kept pace with United, who welcomed Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez back from injury but needed late strikes by Anderson and Danny Welbeck to secure a club record 19th straight league win at Old Trafford.

The two Manchester clubs lead with 19 points from seven games, though United have the better goal difference. Newcastle went to third with 15 points after a 2-1 win over Wolverhampton stretched their unbeaten start to the season. Liverpool won 2-0 at Everton to go to 13 points alongside Chelsea, who can return alone to third place with a victory at Bolton today.

Tevez was suspended for two weeks on Thursday over his apparent refusal to come off the bench during City's 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League the day before, with manager Roberto Mancini saying the Argentina striker would never play for the club again.

But even with Sergio Aguero sustaining what appeared to be a groin problem, City's offence never lagged as Johnson curled in the 56th-minute opener.

Italy striker Balotelli volleyed home from Nasri three minutes later and celebrated by showing support for Mancini with a hug of the Italian coach. Nasri scored the third in the 73rd before Savic netted his first goal for City near the close.

struggle

United struggled despite the return of Hernandez and Rooney, who still managed to help flick Ryan Giggs' corner on to the path of Anderson to head home a 68th-minute opener.

Welbeck replaced Hernandez just before the opener and netted his third goal of the week in the 87th as United bounced back from a midweek 3-3 Champions League draw against Basel.

"This was not a good performance but we were gritty and we never gave in," said United manager Alex Ferguson, whose team had not dropped league points at Old Trafford since a 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion nearly one year ago. "That is a fantastic quality to have."

While £35 million (US$51 million) signing Andy Carroll netted his first league goal to open, Luis Suarez largely ensured Liverpool won the 216th Merseyside derby by scoring a goal and being involved with an opponent's red card.

Jack Rodwell was sent off for a challenge on Suarez in the 23rd and the Uruguayan later earned a penalty that Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard saved from Dirk Kuyt.