City win another boost for Pearce

Manchester City 2 Aston Villa 1

Despite Steven Davis’ late effort, goals either side of the interval from Georgios Samaras and, against his former club, Darius Vassell proved enough to earn the Blues a last eight tussle at home to either Bolton or West Ham next Monday.

And while Pearce continues to insist talk of him replacing Sven-Goran Eriksson as England manager is not a distraction to his nine-to-five job at City, his work at Eastlands is surely catching the attention of FA chief executive Brian Barwick.