Man City held at Wigan, Blackburn beat Burnley

By Martyn Herman

LONDON (Reuters) - Big-spending Manchester City missed the chance to move into the Premier League top four but showed grit in a 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic on Sunday.

Martin Petrov's equaliser one minute into the second half earned City a point which kept them in the leading pack but their hopes of victory were hampered by the sending-off of Argentine right back Pablo Zabaleta.

City remained in fifth spot with 17 points from eight matches, five behind champions Manchester United who top the table having played one more game. United beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 on Saturday to move above Chelsea who lost at Aston Villa.

Fierce local rivals Blackburn Rovers and Burnley squared up in the top flight of English football for the first time in 43 years at Ewood Park on Sunday and Rovers edged a gripping derby 3-2.

First-half goals by David Dunn, Franco Di Santo and Pascal Chimbonda cancelled out Robbie Blake's stunning early opener for Burnley before Chris Eagles pulled one back for the visitors in the closing stages.

For all Manchester City's A-list signings they were outplayed in a dull first half and seemed to be heading for their second defeat of the season when they fell behind on the stroke of halftime.

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