Manchester City bounced back from their Carling Cup disappointment and piled more pressure on bottom club Portsmouth with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Eastlands.

Roberto Mancini’s side made a sluggish start, while Pompey looked dangerous and almost took the lead when Anthony Vanden Borre hit the crossbar with a deflected shot in the 36th minute.

Portsmouth were made to pay four minutes later when Emmanuel Adebayor, on his first start since returning from compassionate leave, controlled a long ball from Stephen Ireland and finished with aplomb.

Vincent Kompany then headed home a Martin Petrov corner on the stroke of half-time and Pompey rarely threatened to get back into the game after the interval.

The hosts enjoyed most of the possession and Carlos Tevez struck the post late on, as City cruised through to full-time to move within one point of fourth-placed Tottenham.

Early chances

It has been another difficult week for Pompey but they started well and were the better side for 39 minutes.

Taking advantage of City’s unusual lethargy, the visitors carved out two fine chances.

John Utaka, one of the few survivors from that 2008 FA Cup final win, was presented with the first but leaned back too far when he got on the end of Danny Webber’s cross and scooped his shot over.

Webber and Utaka were also heavily involved in the move that ended with Kompany deflecting Vanden Borre’s shot onto his own bar.

Ireland may only be a slight figure but he had the strength to hold off Webber and stop the former Watford man tapping Portsmouth in front.

Problems are all relative of course. Yes, it is not nice to see such a proud old club suffering an implosion that seems destined to end in administration.

But, compared to what Adebayor has been through, it really is irrelevant. The last act of Togo’s African Nations Cup was to be banned for two tournaments on Saturday.

Given their recent experience, they are probably quite glad even if the decision itself is almost impossible to comprehend.

Anyone with an ounce of compassion could have understood what was going through Adebayor’s mind after he crashed his 40th-minute shot past David James.

Breakthrough

Latching onto Ireland’s lofted pass, his marker Marc Wilson appealing in vain for offside, Adebayor acted as though he no longer knew how to celebrate, an acknowledgement to the heavens at the start of the second half told its own story.

Kompany effectively wrapped up victory in stoppage time. At City’s previous corner, the Belgian had complained of being impeded by Tal Ben Haim. Having gained no response from referee Martin Atkinson, Kompany took matters into his own hands, simply shrugging the Israeli aside as they ran to meet Petrov’s corner, before powering home his first goal of the season.

Portsmouth continued to work hard after the break, which, like manager Avram Grant, is a testament to their professionalism.

Webber might have breathed fresh life into the contest when he tried to turn home the loose ball after Shay Given had saved from Angelos Basinas.

Unfortunately, the striker missed his kick and fell over. Now Grant lurches on towards deadline day, six points adrift of the survival waterline, having no real idea what players he is going to be left with at 5pm.

Chelsea opened up a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with a 2-1 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor.

The build-up to the match was dominated by stories about the private life of John Terry and it was the England skipper who scored the winning goal eight minutes from time to settle a tight contest.

The Blues, who have been in almost irresistible form of late, were solid rather than spectacular in the first half against a Burnley side searching for another major scalp at home and their first win under Brian Laws.

The deadlock was broken with a goal of real quality as Nicolas Anelka tapped in Florent Malouda’s cross following a swift counter-attack in the 27th minute.

Steven Fletcher got the better of Alex to draw Burnley level early in the second period and Chelsea struggled to create too many clear-cut opportunities despite dominating possession.

But they emerged triumphant after Terry rose powerfully to head home a corner in the closing stages.

Spotlight

Terry was under the spotlight and his first touch saw him head the ball out of play.

Burnley’s new signing from Stoke, Leon Cort, had to be on his toes in the seventh minute following a swift counter-attack by Chelsea as he turned away Joe Cole’s cross with Anelka lurking.

Chelsea maintained the momentum and Anelka played the ball back to Frank Lampard a minute later, but he skied his shot over the crossbar. Anelka then fluffed his effort inside the area to the amusement of the Burnley fans, after good work by Joe Cole.

But Anelka was to have the last laugh as he made the breakthrough for his 12th goal of the season.

It was a sweeping move that caught Burnley flat-footed. Joe Cole delivered a cross to the back post and Florent Malouda chased what looked like a lost cause. He managed to steer the ball back into the area and Anelka lost two defenders to coolly finish things off.

Terry was then booked in the 35th minute for barging over Robbie Blake as he tried to burst forward. The crowd were incensed with the Chelsea defender’s challenge and let him know.

Chelsea, though, were playing with confidence and Brian Jensen did well to head clear as Anelka tried to get on the end of a good ball from Branislav Ivanovic.

Blake then sent a free-kick into the Chelsea area after 43 minutes but Anelka showed his defensive qualities by heading clear.

Equaliser

Burnley equalised after clever work by Blake. He put Alex under pressure with a ball into the area and a superb first touch from Fletcher enabled him to get the better of the Brazilian defender to score his 10th goal of the season with a deft finish.

Chelsea hit back and Joe Cole found the net in the 56th minute but his effort was ruled offside shortly after a shot from Lampard was blocked.

Clarets manager Brian Laws decided to boost his attacking options three minutes later when Martin Paterson replaced Kevin McDonald. It was a bold move against the league leaders by the former Sheffield Wednesday manager.

Chelsea almost regained their lead in the 64th minute but Jensen got down quickly to parry Lampard’s driven free-kick from 25 yards.

The visitors kept up the pressure and the goalkeeper then made a comfortable save from Alex after Malouda and Anelka had linked up.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti decided to switch things around in the 73rd minute and brought on Daniel Sturridge for Joe Cole.

Sturridge then saw a header parried by Jensen before Terry silenced the home crowd in the 83rd minute. He peeled away from his marker and got on the end of a corner from Malouda to head home. Given the allegations about his private life, it was little wonder his celebration was muted.

However it proved to be Chelsea’s winner and takes them four points clear of Manchester United, who face Arsenal on Sunday.

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Carlo Ancelotti insisted the Chelsea captaincy was not an issue following the 2-1 victory over Burnley.

Newspaper allegations about John Terry’s private life meant the spotlight was firmly on the defender at Turf Moor.

He responded by scoring the winning goal to help the Blues move four points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Ancelotti had no doubts about selecting Terry against the Clarets and does not see why he would consider handing the armband to someone else.

“There is no discussion about this (the captaincy). I don’t know why you ask me this. The players will never lose their trust in him,” said the manager.

“It was a good moment for Terry on the pitch today. But he also played well against Birmingham in midweek.

“I did not speak with him. It wasn’t necessary because he did well in training yesterday. It was not in my mind he wouldn’t play.

“I do not want to talk about his personal life. He is doing his job very well, every day, every training session. For this (reason) I am not worried.”

Professional

Ancelotti, however, refused to discuss whether Terry should remain skipper of the national team.

“I am manager of Chelsea and that is my focus, not England ” he said.

Ancelotti insists that Terry is helping improve the club’s profile, not tarnishing it.

He said: “The professionalism of John Terry improves the image of the club. I am a manager and only want to speak about his work. He is a fantastic professional.

“All the club, the players, management and staff are supporting him and his family at this time.”

Difficult game

Ancelotti was happy to put some daylight between Chelsea and Manchester United but accepted Burnley had tested his side.

He said: “It was a difficult game, especially in the second half. We were not able to play the way we liked and they equalised.

“We then put more pressure on them and deserved to win. We are four points ahead of Manchester United and that is good.”

Burnley manager Brian Laws bemoaned poor defending following his side’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.

The Clarets fell behind to a fine Nicolas Anelka goal in the first half at Turf Moor but battled back to equalise through Steven Fletcher.

Chelsea then enjoyed a sustained period of pressure but struggled to carve out clear-cut opportunities until John Terry headed home a corner in the 82nd minute.

Laws was proud of the effort of his players but disappointed not to come away with a draw.

Speaking about Terry’s winner, Laws said: “If you give him time and space to get in a header, that’s what happens.

“But I can take a lot of heart from this game. We were only minutes away from getting a point.

“We showed Chelsea too much respect in the first half but when we scored it lifted the team and lifted the crowd.

“It was a great goal by Fletcher and gave us great belief. The only disappointment is we couldn’t see out the game.”

The race for a top four finish remains wide open after Tottenham were held 1-1 by Birmingham at St Andrews.

Jermain Defoe looked to have kept Harry Redknapp’s side clear of the chasing pack, but a late leveller from Liam Ridgewell has given hope to Liverpool and co.

A tame first half saw defences very much on top, with both sides struggling to create clear-cut opportunities.

Luka Modric did send a snap-shot inches past the post for Spurs, while Christian Benitez rolled straight at Heurelho Gomes after leaving Michael Dawson on the deck, but that was as close as either team came to forcing a breakthrough.

The standard was raised slightly after the interval, and it was Tottenham who edged themselves in front after 69 minutes.

Gareth Bale swung over a cross from the left, Peter Crouch got the faintest of flicks and Defoe made no mistake as he rifled past Joe Hart from eight yards out.

Birmingham offered a positive response to falling behind and they hauled themselves level in the first minute of stoppage time.

Cameron Jerome rose highest to meet a high cross to the back post and his knock down was bundled home by Ridgewell.

Impressive

The visitors were the better side for long periods with David Bentley impressing on the right wing and full-back Bale getting forward on the opposite flank to good effect.

And the poor finishing of City striker Benitez highlighted why Alex McLeish is in the market for a striker with Spurs’ Roman Pavlyuchenko remaining top of his wish list.

But Birmingham this season have had that never-say-die quality about their performances – and it surfaced again.

Blues leading scorer Lee Bowyer had a good chance to open the scoring after four minutes.

James McFadden linked up well with Benitez before playing the ball into the path of the midfielder 15 yards out.

But Bowyer did not make a full contact with his low drive and Gomes was able to save away to his right.

A mistake by Bowyer almost proved costly after his loose pass was seized onto by Bentley.

His shot was blocked by Ridgewell but the rebound fell invitingly to Modric who would have been disappointed to screw his shot past the far post.

McLeish seemed unhappy with the way his side had started judging by the verbal volley he aimed at his players who were guilty of some casual and sloppy play.

Squandered

But Birmingham squandered another good opening on the counter-attack with Benitez this time guilty of some poor finishing.

Jerome created the chance and then Benitez found himself with only Gomes to beat after turning inside Dawson.

But he fired a low weak drive straight at the Brazilian keeper when he could have picked his spot.

Bentley continued to pose a threat to the home side and he went past Ridgewell before unleashing a fierce shot from a narrow angle which Hart turned aside for a corner.

Birmingham forced a trio of corners in quick succession and the third of them from McFadden flew right across the six yard box but no-one was able to apply a finishing touch.

Tottenham began the second half on the offensive and Hart went down to his left to smother a shot from Bentley 12 yards out and was able to gather the rebound.

Crouch missed Spurs’ best chance of the game to date after 52 minutes.

Defoe was released by Wilson Palacios and then slightly mis-controlled the ball, but it fell invitingly to Crouch who stabbed a weak effort wide.

Cautions

Roger Johnson became the first player to be yellow carded after 57 minutes for showing dissent towards a referee’s assistant.

Then Palacios was booked for bringing down Bowyer on the edge of the Spurs box.

The cautions were now coming thick and fast with Bowyer going into the notebook for a lunge at Palacios.

Tottenham’s pressure finally paid off after 69 minutes when Bale’s centre was flicked on by Crouch – and Defoe did the rest from close range.

Birmingham tried to retaliate and Benitez beat the offside trap to find himself clear of the Spurs defence.

But the Ecuador international opted to cut back inside and, by the time he elected to shoot, Spurs had enough players back to block his shot.

Defoe was booked for deliberate handball as the home side tried to build up some momentum.

McFadden sliced a shot wide after a deflected drive from Jerome had fallen into his path.

Then, in injury time, Ridgewell equalised for City after Jerome had headed a McFadden centre back across goal.

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