Controversial penalty helps Manchester City defeat Everton

Sergio Aguero's injury overshadowed the three points

Manchester City secured a narrow win over Everton at the Etihad Stadium to move to within three points of Chelsea. Alex Johnson rounds up the action.

After Jose Mourinho's men surprisingly lost to Newcastle earlier in the day, the Premier League evening game against Everton provided City with a fantastic chance for a fourth straight league win to close the gap.

However, the match got off to a terrible start as Sergio Aguero was forced off the pitch after only a couple of minutes with an apparent knee injury. With vital games on the horizon both domestically and in Europe, the sight of Aguero hobbling off in tears will have worried City fans.

It could have gone from bad to worse for City. Error-prone defender Eliaquim Mangala can consider himself lucky to only see yellow after an ugly high kick into the lower back of Samuel Eto'o on 19 minutes, before City took the lead under controversial circumstances.

James Milner was found by Yaya Toure in the Everton box and went down under an innocuous-looking challenge from Phil Jagielka. Milner didn't appear himself to claim for a penalty, however referee Andre Marriner pointed straight to the spot to incense the Everton players and fans.

Toure took the spot-kick in the absence of Aguero and fired it low and hard into the bottom left-hand corner, just out of the despairing reach of Tim Howard.

City were on top for long periods of the first half but had to be thankful to Fernando for a strong block when Kevin Mirallas hit a powerful volley from inside the area after Pablo Zabaleta's headed clearance dropped straight to the Belgian.

Just before half-time, Jesus Navas burst into the box and his shot deflected off a defender over the head of Howard, who was relieved to see the ball land on the top of the net.

Milner did well just after the break to reach the by-line down the City left and his cut-back landed perfectly for Jose Pozo, who was surprisingly chosen to replace Aguero rather than the more experienced Edin Dzeko. However, the young forward's first-time shot in the box was kept out by a fantastic diving save from Howard.

Everton grew into the second half and ramped up the pressure on City, dominating possession for long periods. Roberto Martinez's men had chances but couldn't convert, while the home side also looked dangerous on the counter-attack.

Their main chance fell to Milner after good work by second-half substitutes Frank Lampard and Dzeko. The two combined to present Milner with a chance from 10 yards out but the England international's volley was off target.

Everton continued to mount pressure and Romelu Lukaka had a fantastic chance - their best of the game by some way - after 82 minutes. A neat flick from Eto'o found the big Belgian striker and his powerful volley looked destined for the bottom corner until Joe Hart pulled off a fantastic one-handed save to keep it out.

That was the closest Everton came to an equaliser as the clock ticked down. In the end City might have been far from their best but managed to hold on and get a vital three points to close the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea. They were 11 points behind the Blues five weeks ago but now that lead is down to just three.

It was revealed after the game that Aguero suffered knee ligament damage and it looks like the Argentine could be missing for an extended period of time. With important games on the horizon, the news is a big blow for City.