Manchester: Manchester City maintained their relentless title charge and stand as the last unbeaten team in the Premier League after a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday handed the Magpies their first loss of the season.
Mario Balotelli's first-half penalty was followed by a goal from Micah Richards three minutes later, both the result of errors from defender Ryan Taylor. Sergio Aguero slotted in another penalty to put the Premier League leaders 3-0 ahead, before Dan Gosling's late consolation for a Newcastle side that started the day in third place.
The victory leaves City with a record of 11 wins and one draw from their opening 12 games, the day after the club announced a record loss of 194.9 million Pounds for its previous fiscal year. That marks the best start to a season in Premier League history, with City also having scored 42 goals so far.
"I hope we continue like this," City manager Roberto Mancini said. "But I think in the 26 games we have left, we will reach a time when we lose a game, I'm sure of it."
"As players, as a team, we are very strong now, but the season is long and there will be difficult moments ahead. For this reason, it's important we know we can score goals and win games in a row."
City were required to withstand a couple of bright moments from Newcastle, who had arrived in Manchester with the best defensive record in the top division, but effectively killed off the game with two goals in four minutes just before the interval.
Hatem Ben Arfa's decisive 33rd-minute pass played Demba Ba through on goal but the Newcastle forward succeeded only in drawing a fine reaction save from the City goalkeeper Joe Hart.
That miss looked costly after 40 minutes when Balotelli's goal-bound shot struck the arm of Ryan Taylor. Balotelli showed great composure in rolling a nonchalant penalty kick into the bottom right-hand corner of the Newcastle net, his sixth goal of the season.
Four minutes later, Ryan Taylor was again culpable when he failed to control Samir Nasri's pass, laying the ball into the path of Richards, who delivered an impressive left-foot finish that doubled City's lead.
Nasri and Aguero continued to create major problems for the visitors, but Newcastle should have reduced the deficit on the hour when a mistake by Joleon Lescott let in Ben Arfa, whose tremendous shot beat Hart but not the left-hand post, the ball rebounding to safety.
Aguero continued to be in the thick of the action, forcing goalkeeper Tim Krul into one brave block, and Hart did likewise in keeping out a shot from Danny Guthrie who had been allowed too much space in the City area.
But the outcome of the game was put beyond all doubt in the 71st minute when David Silva's pass sent Richards sprinting into the area, only for the impressive full-back to be hauled down by Ben Arfa.
With Balotelli having been replaced by Silva, the task of penalty-taker passed to Aguero, who beat Krul with another calm and collected spot-kick.
Newcastle continued to show self-belief, however, and claimed a deserved last-minute consolation goal when James Perch's pass was deflected into the path of Ba by Lescott. After Hart blocked the initial attempt, Gosling rolled the ball into the vacant goal.
"City are the best side we have played by some distance, they are very very powerful," Newcastle manager Alan Pardew said. "We're a good side and how we are going to evolve, how we are going to deal with the disappointment of this is still unknown."
In other results on Saturday, second-placed Manchester United kept up their mean streak by edging past Swansea with a third straight 1-0 win, with Mexico striker Javier Hernandez's first-half goal keeping the reigning champions five points adrift of City.
Arsenal haven't 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.
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.
Wigan remain the team most likely to face the drop after surrendering the lead in the ninth minute of stoppage time in a dramatic match at the DW Stadium. Ayegbeni Yakubu converted an injury-time penalty won by his own goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who had come up for a corner and was fouled as he competed for the ball with Wigan midfielder David Jones. Yakubu had opened the scoring after just 68 seconds, only for Jordi Gomez and Gary Caldwell to give Wigan a half-time lead. Junior Hoilett equalized in the 60th, but Albert Crusat must have thought he had earned Wigan only their second win of the season by putting his side ahead again with two minutes left.
Ireland striker Shane Long returned from injury to score West Brom's winner in the 56th minute against Bolton, while Baines set up international teammate Phil Jagielka in the 44th before scoring himself seven minutes from time to earn Everton a first victory in three matches. Stephen Hunt had given the visitors the lead with a 36th-minute penalty after Marouane Fellaini tripped David Edwards on the edge of the area.
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