Joleon Lescott scored the other goal as City inflicted fresh misery upon Stoke -- the team they beat 1-0 in Saturday's FA Cup final.

More importantly, it meant City leapfrogged Arsenal into third place in the table with just Sunday's final round of Premier League matches left.

Although England's top four clubs qualify for the Champions League, if City beat Bolton this weeked they will go straight into the tournament proper and avoid playing in August's qualifying round where the likes of Bayern Munich and Villarreal could lie in wait.