Manchester City extended their unbeaten run to four matches with a comfortable 2-1 win over Newcastle United to move into the top half of the Premier League table on Wednesday.

Robinho made his first appearance for the club since walking away from City's Tenerife training camp while Craig Bellamy and Nigel de Jong were handed their debuts since completing their move from West Ham and Hamburg. Steve Harper replaced Shay Given in the goal while Joey Barton returned to the starting lineup for Newcastle.

Stephen Ireland and de Jong dominated the midfield for City as Newcastle were pushed on to the backfoot right from the kick off. The hosts' pressure finally told in the 17th minute when Robinho superbly controlled Wayne Bridge's cross before passing it into Shaun Wright-Phillips' path who made no mistake from close range to put his side in front.

Newcastle's hopes of a comeback received a big blow minutes after they conceded a goal when Michael Owen limped off the field and was replaced by Jonas Gutierrez. The Magpies had a penalty appeal turned down on the hour mark when it looked as if Micah Richards had fouled Steven Taylor inside the area.

Newcastle' first real chance came well past the hour mark when Damien Duff saw his cross cleared off the line by Pablo Zabaleta. City looked to be heading for a comfortable win when Bellamy marked his debut with a goal in the 77th minute.

Though Newcastle reduced the deficit through Andrew Carroll four minutes later, they were unable to find the equalizer as City collected all three points from the game,