A brace from Yaya Toure helped Manchester City to record a 4-2 victory away at Swansea City this afternoon and secure them an automatic spot in next season's Champions League.
Yet, despite the Ivorian's impact, City had goalkeeper Joe Hart to thank for the points as the England number one made two saves of high quality in the closing stages to frustrate the home side, who had earlier battled back from a two-goal deficit at the Liberty Stadium.
Garry Monk's Swansea made a positive start to proceedings in South Wales, where they created three chances within the opening 12 minutes.
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All of them fell for Bafetimbi Gomis, but the French striker saw one shot from outside of the area denied by Hart and his other two attempts go off target.
Hart was again called into action in the 16th minute, this time to thwart Nathan Dyer after the Swansea winger had robbed a hesitant Eliaquim Mangala of possession on the right flank.
Having failed to make their early dominance count, the Swans then fell behind in the 21st minute as Toure drove in what was his 50th Premier League goal with the help of a slight deflection off home captain Ashley Williams.
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That goal put City in the ascendancy and they went on to double their lead 15 minutes later through James Milner, who curled a shot inside the far post following a swift counter-attack involving both Frank Lampard and Sergio Aguero.
However, despite those setbacks, Swansea were provided with a lifeline on the stroke of half time when Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson drilled his shot into the bottom corner of Hart's net.
Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was called into action early in the second half to prevent David Silva and then Jesus Navas from restoring City's healthy advantage, but, just as the visitors had done in the first half, Swansea struck against the run of play.
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Jazz Richards's long pass in the 64th minute caught out the City defence and Gomis capitalised by displaying the sort of composure that he had lacked earlier in the game to beat Hart. It was the former Lyon frontman's fifth goal in as many outings for the Swans and his 10th of the campaign.
Swansea's celebrations would be short-lived, though, because Toure made another telling impact 10 minutes later. On this occasion, the midfielder, who has been tipped to leave City at the end of the season, hit a low shot from the edge of the area that proved too powerful for Fabianski to keep out.
In a bid to score another equaliser, Swansea poured players forward and looked to have scored twice through headed efforts from Federico Fernandez and Gomis, but Hart showed great reflexes to keep his side in front.
In stoppage time, further salt was rubbed into the Swansea wounds as Wilfried Bony, who they sold to City in January, came off the bench to score a fourth goal for the visitors with the aid of the post.
Liam Apicella
