Tevez on his way to scoring his fabulous first

By Saj Chowdhury

Carlos Tevez scored twice - including a superb solo effort - as Manchester City beat Wolves to go top of the table.

Nenad Milijas poked in the opener for Wolves before Kolo Toure grabbed a deflected equaliser from close range.

Tevez's individual effort put City ahead and then Yaya Toure made it 3-1 thanks to an assist from Edin Dzeko.

Tevez headed his second before Kevin Doyle scored from the spot after he was fouled by Joleon Lescott and Ronald Zubar headed in late on.

Wolves' debatable third in the last 10 minutes, with the ball only crossing the line by the slimmest of margins if at all, ensured a cracking finale, although City would have been left aggrieved had they let the win slip.

However, had the home side gone into the break a goal down there would not have been any complaints.

It is hard to criticise a manager who has won three Serie A titles and whose current team began the day second in the Premier League table.

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But Roberto Mancini's decision to start £27m new signing Dzeko and push Tevez wide on the left was questionable, especially during a first half when Wolves took control in the middle.

Midway through the half, Argentine Tevez did begin to drift inside in order to exert his influence but by this stage Mick McCarthy's side had gone 1-0 up and looked comfortable.

The opener came from a Jarvis ball which struck Aleksandar Kolarov en route to a lively round of pinball between City players before it was poked in by Milijas.

The Serbian scorer then went close with a header as City's defence began to display the confused look.

And with City's midfield also looking like they did not fancy the fight, it was up to Tevez to lead their threat.

He provided a little teaser for what was to follow when he launched a rocket of a shot from 20 yards that caressed the top of the Wolves netting.

That awoke Mancini's millionaires and a few minutes later they equalised when Kolo's four-yard shot found its way in off the bodies of David Jones and keeper Wayne Hennessey.

And just before the interval, Kolarov, who was having one of his better games in a City shirt, fizzed in a cracker from 30 yards which the Wolves stopper unconvincingly pushed behind for a corner.

But the dazzling moment of the match came four minutes after the break.

Tevez picked up a throw-in from the right, tip-toed his way into the area and weaved past three Wolves challenges before slotting in to display why, of all City's multi-million pound buys, he remains their most important player.

He then played his part in the third. From the edge of his own area, Yaya Toure played the ball in-field to Tevez. The Argentine found Dzeko and his killer ball was timed brilliantly for the Ivorian, who made up 90 yards, to slot in.

And just before he came off to a standing ovation, Tevez headed in fellow countryman Pablo Zabaleta's clipped ball from the right.

That should have put the game safe, but City's Achilles is their defence.

With 20 minutes of the match remaining, substitute and former Wolves player Lescott bundled over Doyle in the area.

Referee Lee Mason did not hesitate with his decision and Doyle stepped up to score only his second league goal of the season.

Wolves, sensing the comeback of all comebacks was on the cards, kept pressing and set up an exciting finish when Ronald Zubar's header was judged to have crossed the line, even though it appeared that Nigel de Jong had successfully cleared the effort.

Five minutes of stoppage time were played but City held on to move a point clear of their city rivals Manchester United, albeit having played there games more.

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