Manchester City battled hard for a narrow 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic to keep themselves out of the relegation zone on Saturday.

Pablo Zabaleta scored the winner seven minutes into the second half and though the hosts were reduced to 10 men when Richard Dunne was sent off, they managed to keep out a threatening Wigan attack to claim all three points from the match.

City dominated the chances in the first half and should have had taken the lead with Robinho missing a couple of golden chances to break the deadlock. Elano had one of his best games under Mark Hughes with the midfielder linking up brilliantly with his Brazilian compatriot Robinho though the hosts were let down by some poor finishing by the former Real Madrid striker.

Wigan stepped up the pressure at the start of the second half but were soon trailing behind as Zabaleta latched on to a poor clearance by the Latics' defense before smashing the ball past Chris Kirkland from outside the penalty area. However City were soon reduced to 10 men two minutes later Dunne was shown a red card for kicking out at Amr Zaki.

The dismissal saw City withdraw into their shell and were happy to defend for the rest of the game as Wigan pressed forward in search of an equalizer. The visitors should have had equalized late in the game when Lee Cattermole's header took a deflection and fell straight to Zaki but the Egyptian striker somehow managed to miss an open net from just six yards out.