Manchester City have failed to overcome a determined Birmingham City outfit who held their rivals to a 0-0 draw at Eastlands.
Birmingham keeper Ben Foster came up with the goods on a number of occasions, making seven saves in total to help his side grab a vital point on the road.
The draw kept City in fourth but enabled Brum to remain just out of the drop zone despite Stoke's win over Liverpool.
Manchester City: 0 Birmingham City: 0
Venue: City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester Crowd: 44,321 Referee: Michael Jones Yellow cards:MC - Carlos Tevez 40', Nigel de Jong 79' BC - nil
Starting Line-Ups
Man City Joe Hart (gk), Vincent Kompany, Kolo Touré, Aleksandar Kolarov (Zabaleta 81'), Jerome Boateng, Nigel de Jong, James Milner (Santa Cruz 66'), Yaya Touré, David Silva, Carlos Tévez (Barry 83'), Adam Johnson
Subs - Shay Given (gk), Roque Santa Cruz (66'), Pablo Zabaleta (81'), Gareth Barry (83'), Patrick Vieira, Micah Richards, Jô
Birmingham Ben Foster (gk), Scott Dann, Roger Johnson, Liam Ridgewell, Stephen Carr, Craig Gardner (Bowyer 49'), Barry Ferguson, Keith Fahey, Sebastian Larsson, Cameron Jerome, Nikola Zigic (Hleb 65')
Subs - Colin Doyle (gk), Lee Bowyer (49'), Alexander Hleb (65'), Stuart Parnaby, Kevin Phillips, Matt Derbyshire
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