Manchester City have returned to the top of the English premiership table through a gritty victory over Aston Villa as West Bromwich Albion move further clear of the relegation zone through a thumping win over Wolves.
At Villa Park, Joleon Lescott's second-half goal proved enough to earn City a 1-0 victory in a sometimes tedious encounter, the result of which puts plenty of extra pressure on Villa manager Alex McLeish.
It was two ex-Villa players as well that came back to haunt their old club as Gareth Barry nodded James Milner's 63rd-minute corner into the path of Lescott - a Villa fan himself as a child - with the defender burying his shot on the turn to give City the points.
It was a far from vintage performance from City but Roberto Mancini will take the points and enjoy seeing his side automatically return to the top of the table after they lost that position for the first time since September following Manchester United's incident-packed 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Saturday.
City fans didn't have too much cause for optimism either heading into this encounter as their side had won just one of their last six matches on the road, scoring three goals in the process.
That sort of form was apparent during the first half as Milner fluffed a good chance before Adam Johnson struck the outside of the post.
Lescott's goal just after the hour, though, prompted McLeish to bring on Charles N'Zogbia, the Frenchman's presence in the side lifting Villa as they attacked the City goal during the game's latter stages.
But Carlos Cuellar could only nod over the bar before City custodian Joe hart produced a fantastic reflex save to deny Darren Bent at the death.
The result means that Villa have now not won at home in seven matches since last November as they struggle in 15th on the Premiership table, just seven points above the relegation zone.
West Brom, however, have leapfrogged the Villains into 14th on the table through a barnstorming 5-1 victory over Wolves at Molineux that was powered by a Peter Odemwingie hat-trick.
Odemwingie opened the scoring for Roy Hodgsons's men in the 34th minute and it was a just reward for an early onslaught from the visiting side.
Despite struggling for possession, Wolves found themselves level at the break as Sylvan Ebanks-Blake set up Steven Fletcher during first-half injury time.
And, for a while, it appeared Wolves took that momentum into the second half as they produced a lengthy period of possession throughout the opening stages after the re-start.
But when Wolves stopper Wayne Hennessey, excellent to that point, struggled to deal with Jonas Olsson's half volley in the 64th minute and allowed it to end up in the back of the net, the flood gates suddenly opened.
In a blistering 24 minutes for the visitors, they added four goals as Odemwingie netted twice either side of a Keith Andrews' goal as Wolves drop back into the relegation zone.