Premier League: Manchester City 4 Aston Villa 1

Manchester City took the lead in the English Premier League in impressive fashion after beating Aston Villa 4-1 at Etihad Stadium.

A first-half bicycle kick from Mario Balotelli was followed by goals from Adam Johnson, Vincent Kompany and James Milner, as City ran riot at home.

Having seen Manchester United drop points in a 1-1 draw at Liverpool, City started with appropriate vigour, and Adam Johnson seemed the most likely to force the breakthrough.

But the first big chance would fall to Villa in the 11th minute and to the in-form Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Having outmuscled Joleon Lescott in the City half, Agbonlahor advanced into the box, only to hit a limp effort towards Joe Hart, who pulled off a good save.

It was a wake-up call to which the home side responded impressively, with Mario Balotelli and Johnson looking threatening.

A scuffed shot from Balotelli was nearly turned in with a cute flick by James Milner, but the ball would only scrape the outside of Shay Given’s post.

City’s next good chance came shortly afterwards through Balotelli again, who hit a fine curling effort towards Given’s far post, only for the Irishman to get down magnificently and turn the ball behind.

Villa were hanging on as the half hour approached, and their resistance eventually crumbled.

It was a Johnson corner from which the hosts would secure the breakthrough.

The ball bounced off the chest of Micah Richards and into the path of Balotelli, who, with his back to goal, showed fine improvisation to knock a bicycle-kick past Given, giving City a deserved lead in acrobatic fashion.

Villa returned to the pitch early after the half-time break but any hopes of a comeback were soon extinguished, as City doubled their lead almost instantly after the restart.

Warnock failed to clear a long ball from Yaya Toure, allowing Johnson to nip in with ease and make it 2-0 with a calm finish past Given.

Villa’s collapse was confirmed only six minutes after Johnson’s goal, as Vincent Kompany rose in the box to head home from yet another Johnson corner.

It was a third goal to secure City’s ultimate aim prior to kick off; they would be returning to the top of the league for the first time since August.

Having been cruising for much of the second half, Mancini’s men let the visitors back in to proceedings, as Warnock slammed home after some poor defending from a Fabian Delph cross.

The home side regrouped to register a fourth, with Milner curling a sublime effort past Given following more fine work down the right by Johnson.

With their opportunity taken in style, City will go into next week’s Manchester derby against United as league leaders, and brimming with confidence.