Manchester City maintained their unbeaten start to the season in some style on Saturday as they crushed Aston Villa 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
David Silva opened the scoring for the Premier League champions, before two goals apiece from Argentine strike duo Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez put a rather lop-sided slant on the final scoreline.
A comprehensive victory was enough to take City back to the top of the table, for a few hours at least, while out-of-sorts Villa tumbled into the drop zone as a result of Reading's victory over Everton.
Roberto Mancini's men dominated possession throughout, but struggled to break a stubborn Villa defence down during a scrappy first half and left themselves open to counter.
Vincent Kompany almost put through his own net at one stage, but Joe Hart came to his rescue, but City's pressure finally paid off two minutes before half-time when Villa failed to deal with a Samir Nasri corner and, after seeing the ball ricochet around the box, Silva was in the right place to bundle home.
Paul Lambert likely told his troops at the interval that there was still all to play for, but within nine minutes of the re-start City had doubled their lead in contentious circumstances.
Aguero calmly stroked home from the spot, but the awarding of a penalty for an apparent handball by Andreas Weimann left Villa incensed - with it their opinion that the forward did not make contact with the ball as it fizzed past him.
Villa's mood went from bad to worse as the afternoon wore on, with seemingly everything going against them right now.
City, though, were now in complete control of the tie and netted twice in the space of as many minutes to wrap up the points.
Tevez rolled home the Blues' second penalty of the game following a handball by Barry Bannan and Aguero made it four on 67 minutes as he led a swift counter and fired past Brad Guzan at his near post via the aid of a deflection.
The final act of a game bossed by City saw Tevez convert a low cross from Nasri, with the goal left gaping in front of him.
It has been suggested at times this season that City have been performing below their best, but such accusations could not be levelled at them on Saturday and they will be hoping to have ignited their title defence in front of their own supporters.
Crystal Palace remain top of the Championship thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win over Derby at Selhurst Park.
Glenn Murray scored twice with Andre Moritz also beating Rams keeper Adam Legzdins as Palace won their fifth successive league game.
The victory keeps them two points ahead of Cardiff in second place, who leapfrogged Middlesbrough today thanks to their 1-0 win over Tony Mowbray's side at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Boro had won their two previous encounters against the Sky Blues in South Wales but a first-half goal by Matthew Connolly was enough to earn a win for Malky Mackay's side.
Connolly headed Peter Whittingham's inswinging cross past Jason Steele in the 19th minute to move the Bluebirds two points ahead of Boro, who slipped to third.
Hull remain in fourth place after they held on to beat Birmingham 3-2 at St Andrew's.
Sone Aluko scored twice in the first 30 minutes before James Chester's header gave the Tigers a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Ravel Morrison replied for Birmingham before the break with Marlon King pulling another one back at the start of the second half but it proved to be insufficient as Hull held on for victory.
Leicester thumped Ipswich 6-0 at the King Power Stadium to stay in sixth place as the Blues remained in the bottom three.
Two goals for David Nugent and scores for Lloyd Dyer, Anthony Knockaert, Martyn Waghorn and substitute Marko Futacs left new Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy with a lot to think about ahead of next week's match against relegation rivals Peterborough.
Elsewhere, Brighton leapfrogged Huddersfield into sixth place with a 2-1 win at the John Smith's Stadium.
Will Buckley scored twice in the first half to seal the win with Simon Church's 90th minute goal too late to impact on the result.
Bristol City remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the table after they drew 1-1 against Blackpool.
An 81st-minute penalty by Steven Davies put Bristol in front before Matthew Bates' handball at the other end gave Blackpool the chance to equalise at the other end, a chance they duly took through Thomas Ince's well-taken penalty.
Watford continued their run of good form as they beat 10-man Wolves 2-1 at Vicarage Road.
Nathaniel Chalobah opened the scoring for the home side in the 35th minute, 10 minutes after Wolves defender Christophe Berra had seen red for a professional foul.
Bakary Sako levelled for Wolves but Troy Deeney had the final word with a header in the 68th minute.
Miguel Llera's headed own goal was the only difference as Nottingham Forest beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at the City Ground.
Llera found the back of his own net from six yards midway through the second half as Forest closed the gap on Huddersfield to a point.
Bolton and Barnsley played out a 1-1 draw at the Reebok, with Kevin Davies' first-half score for Bolton cancelled out by namesake Craig Davies midway through the second period.
Charlton beat 10-man Burnley 1-0 thanks to Danny Haynes' goal after Burnley keeper Lee Grant saved Johnnie Jackson's early penalty at Turf Moor.
Burnley defender Kieran Trippier was shown off in the 15th minute for a deliberate handball but Jackson was unable to convert from the spot with Haynes left to wrap up the win.
