Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini considered his team "lucky" to be back at the summit of the English Premier League on Sunday (February 12) after a 1-nil win away to Aston Villa.
Joleon Lescott's 62nd-minute goal had set the visitors on course to another league win but nearing the end Villa's Carlos Cuellar headed over and then City goal-keeper Joe Hart made a superb point-blank save from Darren Bent to deny the hosts a share of the spoils.
"We were really lucky, they could've scored in that last chance," Mancini told reporters after the match.
"I think (overall) we played very well. We had a lot of possesion, I don't know how many chances we had to score in this game.
"It's not easy to play against Aston Villa away because Aston Villa is a good team."
The win returned City to the top of the league. They are two points clear of rivals Manchester United, who had briefly occupied the top spot after their 2-1 triumph over Liverpool on Saturday (February 11).
Mancini was now looking forward to having his Africa Cup of Nations stars back during the week ahead of a busy run in to the end of the season.
"For us, December and January were difficult months because we had players injured, players banned, players away, for this reason.
"But now we are in February and we are still on top. I think next week we will all the players (back) and this is very important for us."
The defeat leaves Aston Villa in 15th on the ladder but well clear of the relegation zone.
"If you open up early, leave yourself wide open, then they'll destroy you," manager Alex McLeish said.
"You saw Everton's tactics a couple of weeks ago, very similar to what we deployed tonight. And you've got to keep City at nil to have a chance to win the game.
"In saying that, they scored and we have two or three chances near the end. But they were from corners and from corners in the first half and we made full use of the corners in the first half. The way we did in the second (was good) up to a point obviously without scoring.
"I thought the players executed the plan very well and their discipline was fantastic."
Reuters