-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Manchester City may have announced losses of more than $ 300 million for last season , but the English club 's massive investment in players is paying off on the pitch . Roberto Mancini 's men remained five points clear at the top of the Premier League on Saturday after ending the unbeaten run of third-placed Newcastle with a 3-1 home victory . That briefly put City eight points clear , but second-placed defending champions Manchester United stayed in touch with a 1-0 win at Swansea in the late kickoff , halting the Welsh side 's unbeaten home record . While City 's record deficit casts doubt over the club 's ability to adhere to UEFA 's financial fairplay rules , Saturday 's win -- the 11th in 12 rounds -- was a timely tune-up for the midweek trip to Italy . Mario Balotelli coolly sidefooted in a 41st-minute penalty after Ryan Taylor handled the ball , then the Newcastle fullback 's error allowed City defender Micah Richards to double the lead before halftime . Sergio Aguero came off the bench to net a 72nd-minute penalty after Richards was fouled by Hatem Ben Arfa , having also scored for Argentina in Tuesday 's World Cup qualifying win against Colombia . Dan Gosling scored a late consolation for the Magpies , who will lose third place on goal difference if Chelsea win at home to seventh-placed Liverpool on Sunday . Tottenham , in fifth with two games in hand , can also move onto 25 points with victory against visiting Aston Villa on Monday . City 's focus is now Tuesday 's Champions League trip to Napoli , which will have a big bearing on the club 's hopes of progressing to the knockout stage of Europe 's top competition . `` The feeling is good for Napoli . The team has improved a lot in the Champions League , '' Mancini said . `` But I know what we will find in Naples , they are playing very well at home . `` If we want to win there , then we will have to play better than this afternoon . '' Manchester United will also need to improve at home to Portuguese side Benfica on Tuesday after battling to beat promoted Swansea , with striker Javier Hernandez scoring a close-range winner in the 11th minute after a low cross by veteran Ryan Giggs . `` They have a great home record so we had to make sure we defended well , and I think we did that , '' manager Alex Ferguson said . `` We maybe should have done better with the chances we did get on the counter-attack and near the end we could have had a couple of chances , but it was a good result . '' Arsenal moved up to sixth , also on 22 points but having played two more matches than London rivals Spurs , after winning 2-1 at promoted Norwich , who dropped to 11th . Dutch striker Robin Van Persie continued his hot scoring run with a double that took him to a league-leading 13 this season after Steve Morison gave Norwich a 16th-minute advantage following poor defending by Germany international Per Mertesacker . Queens Park Rangers moved up to ninth with a 3-2 win at Stoke , as striker Heidar Helguson scored twice before the home side were denied a late penalty chance to equalize when Joey Barton brought down Robert Huth but no foul was given . West Brom claimed 10th place with a 2-1 win that left Bolton in the bottom three , while Everton moved up to 12th after beating visiting Wolverhampton by the same score . Sunderland and Fulham joined Wolves on 11 points after a 0-0 draw , with all three clubs hovering hovering above the relegation zone . The bottom two teams Wigan and Blackburn Rovers drew 3-3 in a fiery derby that ended with Yakubu leveling with a penalty nine minutes into time added on . It was the Nigerian striker 's second goal of the day for 10-man Blackburn , having netted the opener after only 68 seconds -- his 100th in the English league . Rovers had David Dunn sent off for a second yellow card three minutes after the break , but Junior Hoilett made it 2-2 on the hour despite teammate Morten Gamst Pedersen appearing to pass the ball to himself from a corner .