Manchester City were indebted to a battling performance from Joe Hart as they climbed to the top of the Premier League for the first time this season with a narrow 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace, Edin Dzeko scoring the winning goal midway through the second half. Sporting a black eye from a first-half collision with Cameron Jerome that forced the Palace striker out of the game, Hart went on to make three important saves from Jason Puncheon, Mile Jedinak and Joel Ward to make sure his side took the points.

"Joe is back to playing at his best," the City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, said. "The rest has done him good, and I don't think it has affected his confidence. He was always confident he would return to his position and now he is again showing he is the best goalkeeper in England."

Hart showed a certain amount of bravery, too, in carrying on after a lengthy period of treatment on the pitch, and though the goalkeeper required six stitches after the game his manager played down the extent of the injury. "It was not a serious problem," Pellegrini said. "We had the option of keeping him off at half-time but the doctor said he was OK to carry on."

Pellegrini was similarly relaxed about City topping the Premier League pile. "It might only be for a day, it might be for longer," he said. "The important thing to remember is that it is only half-time in the Premier League. We need to keep on winning in the second half, beginning with Swansea on New Year's Day."

In defending a somewhat lacklustre, tired-looking performance from his side, Pellegrini also suggested only one team had attempted to play, accusing Palace of merely coming to defend for 90 minutes, a comment that annoyed Tony Pulis yet one that was easy for the Palace manager to fight back against.

"I don't know how anyone can say we didn't do any attacking," Pulis said. "If that was the case how was it that the Manchester City goalkeeper was named man of the match?"