MANCHESTER CITY moved back to the top of the Premier League table after securing a hard-earned 2-0 victory at Newcastle United - with a little help from the officials.

The Magpies found themselves behind inside eight minutes when Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko powered in a cross from Aleksandar Kolarov to give City the lead.

But after that Newcastle rallied and threatened on numerous occasions to level and prevent a fourth successive defeat.

And they could have achieved their aims had referee Mike Jones not controversially ruled  Cheik Tiote's  33rd minute rocket out for offside.

As Tiote turned away to celebrate, Jones and his assistant Stephen Child deemed that Yoan Gouffran was active in the six yard box and that he was in an offside position when the ball flew in.

That was despite the fact that Gouffran was not in the line of Joe Hart's sight and Newcastle boss Alan Pardew and his players raged.

After that Newcastle tried hard to make up for it and find another goal, but in the end Manchester City broke in stoppage time to add a second through Alvaro Negredo to claim the three points. 

More to follow ...