City have relinquished top spot in the Premier League table for the first time since October Manchester City\'s title hopes took a potentially fatal blow on and off the pitch on Sunday as defeat at Swansea was followed by talk of in-fighting in the camp as the pressure of the Premier League title race finally looking to take it\'s toll.
City\'s l\'enfant terrible, Mario Balotelli, was reportedly involved in a heated half-time bust-up with team-mate Yaya Toure, while Gareth Barry was far from happy after being hauled off just 37 minutes into the game at the Liberty Stadium.
While boss Roberto Mancini claimed afterwards he knew nothing of the incident involving Balotelli and Yaya Toure, he will have taken note of Barry\'s reaction to being replaced by Sergio Aguero so early on with the England midfielder venting his fury to City No.2 David Platt.
Despite Joe Hart\'s penalty save from Scott Sinclair in the opening minutes, City did eventually perish courtesy of an 83rd minute winner from Swansea substitute Luke Moore after some shambolic defending from much maligned City defender Stefan Savic.
That defeat coupled with a 2-0 win for city-rivals Manchester United over West Brom means that City are now in the unfamiliar position of second placec in the table, one point adrift with 10 games to go, having led the way since way back in October.
No wonder then that Mancini admitted afterwards that his team were in a \"bad moment\". The Italian needs to ensure that is all it is as he looks to restore harmony and the winning habit back into his expensively assembled squad before it\'s too late.