City maintain title charge

LONDON (AP):Manchester City maintained their relentless title charge atop the English Premier League by condemning Newcastle to their first defeat while second-place Manchester United kept up their mean streak by edging past Swansea with a third straight 1-0 win.

Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero converted penalties and Micah Richards scored the other in City's 3-1 home win that left Roberto Mancini's free-scoring team unbeaten after 12 matches.

United remain their cross-town rival's closest challengers, with Mexico striker Javier Hernandez's first-half goal keeping the reigning champions five points adrift.

The two Manchester clubs have broken away from the chasing pack, with Newcastle now four points further back in third, but Chelsea could reignite their title chase by going above the northeast team on goal difference with a home win over Liverpool today.

Arsenal have not given up hope of the title after Netherlands striker Robin van Persie's brace earned the resurgent London team a 2-1 win at Norwich, although they are already 12 points behind City.

Van Persie moved his league-leading tally to 13 goals in 12 games, three clear of City pair Aguero and Edin Dzeko.

At the other end of the table, Wigan stayed bottom after being held to a 3-3 draw by second-to-last Blackburn while Bolton also remain in the relegation zone after losing 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion.

Penalty scored

England defender Leighton Baines scored from the penalty spot as Everton rallied to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1, Heidar Helguson's brace helped Queens Park Rangers to a 3-2 win at Stoke while Sunderland were held 0-0 by Fulham.

United, so explosive going forward at the start of the season, have tightened up since a 6-1 derby mauling by City at Old Trafford last month.

It has left City as the division's entertainers.

Averaging exactly 3.5 goals per game even without last season's top scorer Carlos Tevez, who is still to return from his unauthorised trip back to his native Argentina, City's attacking strength was too much for a Newcastle defence that was the sturdiest in the league before its trip to the Etihad Stadium.

Balotelli's penalty in the 41st minute came after Ryan Taylor was adjudged to have handled and the left back was at fault for Richards' goal, his failure to cut out Aguero's pass allowing the City defender to finish left-footed.

Hatem Ben Arfa and Danny Guthrie squandered glorious chances for Newcastle before Aguero made the game safe in the 71st, converting from the spot for his 10th goal of the season after Richards was hauled down by Ben Arfa.

Dan Gosling's goal was a last-minute consolation for Newcastle, whose 11-match unbeaten run had surprised pundits who largely predicted a season of struggle for Alan Pardew's team after the sale of many of their star players over the past 12 months.

Hernandez's fifth goal of the season came in the 11th minute after defender Angel Rangel gave the ball away to evergreen winger Ryan Giggs, playing a league match in his native Wales for the first time.

It settled an otherwise uneventful match, although Phil Jones nearly doubled United's lead late on when he hit the post on a counterattack.

Swansea's best chance fell to winger Scott Sinclair, who miscued in front of an open goal midway through the first half.

Van Persie is the league's in-form striker and he made it 31 goals in 29 matches in this calendar year with a well-taken brace against Norwich as Arsenal continued its revival following a dreadful start to the season.

Steve Morison capitalised on an error by Germany defender Per Mertesacker to put Norwich ahead in the 16th but van Persie equalised in the 26th and chipped in the winner just before the hour mark.

"We all know within the club that he's an exceptional player," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said of van Persie.