by James Nalton at Eastlands

MANCHESTER CITY remain at the top of the Premier League after a Yaya Toure penalty secured a win against a stubborn Norwich City side at Eastlands.

The match will go down as one of those troublesome games which a genuine title challenger must win if they’re to emerge as champions.

The first half was forgettable, but a dramatic second half saw three goals, two penalties and a red card.

Nicolas Otamendi’s towering header gave Manchester City the lead, but an error by Joe Hart presented Cameron Jerome with an easy tap-in for Norwich to equalise.

Hart’s manager Manuel Pellegrini said: “Sometimes those things happen, Joe Hart is human and anyone can make a mistake. After that he made a good save, because he’s a good goalkeeper.”

The incident which led to the first spot-kick saw another goalkeeping error, this time by Norwich’s John Ruddy. He spilled Jesus Navas’s cross and ended up stranded while trying to retrieve it. Raheem Sterling’s subsequent shot was handled by Russell Martin on its way to goal, and the Canaries’ captain was duly sent off. Toure dispatched the penalty into the bottom corner with conviction.

Sterling won another penalty in injury time but with Toure having just been substituted Aleksandar Kolarov stepped up only to send his kick wide.

Norwich manager Alex Neil bemoaned his side’s errors. “I feel that we’ve chucked a point away today,” he said. “But we’ll dust ourselves down and be ready for next week.”