Ivorian striker Wilfried Bony fired the first goal for Manchester City, which helped the Premier League defending champions record a much-needed 3-0 win against West Bromwich Albion in a match which saw Gareth McAuley controversially being sent off.
Bony fired in the 27th minute to help City take charge of the game and further goals from Fernando and David Silva helped Manuel Pellegrini's men cut Chelsea's lead at the top of the table to three points, at least until Jose Mourinho's side play their two games in hand.
However, the game turned on McAuley's dismissal after just 89 seconds, the fastest in the Premier League this season, when it was unclear whether the referee had shown the red card to the wrong man, the BBC reported.
Another West Brom defender, Craig Dawson, had committed the initial foul on Bony, who got up before running into McAuley inside the area.
The referee, however, awarded City a free-kick before calling McAuley over, and proceeded to send him off despite his pleas of innocence and protests from his teammates.
Overall in the match, Pellegrini's side mustered 26 shots in the first 45 minutes, the most in a top-flight game since 2003-04, the report added.