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.

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