Verdict: Manchester City 2 Bolton Wanderers 0

City emerged with three points thanks to moments of brilliance from Adam Johnson and Emmanual Adebayor, along with a defensive mindset that achieved a clean sheet. Like the previous two games it was far from pretty as this time Roberto Mancini sought to shore up the midfield with de Jong, Barry and Vieira.

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Player ratings: Manchester City v Bolton Wanderers

Given – Clearly under instructions to try and play the ball out to defenders, and not to be concerned about initiating attacks with a quick throw. The result was a few a sloppy clearances from the normally reliable Shay. 6

Zabaleta – A big improvement on his performance at Hull, where the broken nose must have affected his preparation. Very strong defensively and needed to be against Wilshere. 7

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