Man City missed the opportunity to pull clear at the top, with Sunderland snatching a dramatic 1-0 victory over the leaders.
Black Cats snatch dramatic winner to topple table toppers
Manchester City missed the opportunity to pull clear at the top of the table, with Sunderland snatching a dramatic 1-0 victory over the league leaders.
Dong-Won Ji grabbed what proved to be the match winner with virtually the last kick of the game to compound a miserable New Year for the Premier League frontrunners.
It was not the most auspicious of starts to 2012 for Roberto Mancini's table-topping City side, with some woeful finishing leaving them cursing their luck.
Edin Dzeko endured a nightmare afternoon in front of goal, with an effort that clipped the top of the crossbar as close as his wayward shooting came to finding the target.
Stephane Sessegnon could have made him pay midway through the second half but, having opted to use the outside of his boot, he fired wide when presented with a clear sight of goal.
City continued to toil to no avail in the closing stages, with a combination of Simon Mignolet and the woodwork keeping David Silva and Micah Richards at bay.
It looked as though a point would be the least they would leave Wearside with, but a late counter attack from Sunderland saw Ji sprung clear by Sessegnon and, despite appearing to have drifted offside, he rounded Joe Hart and slipped the ball into an empty net.
Desperate
City manager Roberto Mancini, perhaps with one eye on Tuesday's home clash with Liverpool, started with Sergio Aguero and Silva on the bench and left Mario Balotelli out of the 18, but he was forced to bring on the star substitute pair in a desperate search for a winner.
Yet, had either Nicklas Bendtner or Sessegnon taken the chances which fell their way either side of the break, Sunderland might have been in front long before they did actually take the lead.
Black Cats manager Martin O'Neill had gone into the game without a specialist full-back as injuries tore his defensive resources apart, and the situation was to get worse long before the half-time whistle sounded.
Having already had to press midfielders Craig Gardner and Jack Colback into service at right-back and left-back respectively, he also had to draft in Mignolet for the first time since he fractured his nose and an eye-socket on 29th October as Keiren Westwood pulled out.
O'Neill was forced into a further change with just 26 minutes gone when centre-back Wes Brown pulled up and was replaced by Matt Kilgallon, making his first senior appearance for the club since May 2010.
In the circumstances, O'Neill could hardly have been more pleased with the way his distinctly makeshift defence battled its way to the break without conceding.
Had lone frontman Bendtner shown a little more composure, his side might have headed for the dressing room holding a lead.
Pace
Sunderland broke at pace from a third-minute defensive corner and Sessegnon slid the perfect pass into the Dane's run to put him in on goal.
Bendtner took the ball wide of goalkeeper Hart, but crucially not wide enough and the England international was able to make an important block.
Hart had to make a smart save from James McClean's effort two minutes later, but as the half went on, it was a City side featuring six changes from the 0-0 draw at West Brom which began to dominate.
It was not until the half-hour mark had passed that they really made their presence felt.
Mignolet, who was wearing a protective face mask, made a point-blank 32nd-minute block to deny Dzeko, but was then grateful to see Gardner clear Samir Nasri's effort off the line seconds later.
Dzeko rattled the crossbar with a powerful drive 10 minutes before the break and then prompted a comfortable save from Mignolet from distance with two minutes of the half remaining.
But it was the home side who went close in injury time when Gardner blasted just high and wide as the Black Cats surged forward.
Mancini had seen enough and replaced defensive midfielder Nigel de Jong with Aguero at the break, although it was McClean who went close to breaking the deadlock when his 47th-minute cross flew just over the angle of bar and post.
Scuffed
Yaya Toure scuffed a volley wide seconds later after Mignolet had kicked Aleksandar Kolarov's cross away, and Pablo Zabaleta also failed to hit the target after being played into space by captain Vincent Kompany.
Mancini responded by sending on Silva for Nasri, and the visitors squandered another promising opening within seconds when Dzeko skied a shot high over the bar from Adam Johnson's cross.
City might have taken the lead in controversial circumstances with 59 minutes played when referee Kevin Friend allowed play to continue after Sessegnon went to ground under Kolarov's challenge.
Silva fed the ball to Dzeko, who dropped it off for Aguero to fire in a close-range effort which Mignolet managed to block.
But Sunderland should have been in front with 64 minutes gone when Sessegnon cut inside from the right and found himself with just Hart to beat.
The Benin international pushed his shot agonisingly wide of the far post with the outside of his right foot.
Richards went desperately close to a winner with a minute of normal time remaining when he headed the ball into the ground and saw it come back off the crossbar after Mignolet had parried Silva's shot.
However, the drama was not over and when Sessegnon stabbed the ball into Ji's path, he calmly rounded Hart to snatch three precious points.
