Fitzgerald Cecilio

London, England

Gareth Barry scored on a header in stoppage time as Manchester City eked out a 1-0 win over Reading in Saturday's English Premier League match at Etihad Stadium.

City faced a stiff challenge from Reading throughout the 90-minute defensive tussle, which saw the home team misfiring their first 20 goal attempts while Reading had only five clear shot at the goal.

Still, Reading defensive stance was paying dividends for them and appeared on their way to pulling off a scoreless draw against the defending EPL champ until the unexpected happened.

David Silva delivered a wonderful cross into the penalty box, when Barry bobbed out of nowhere and headed home the ball three minutes into stoppage time.

The win catapulted City (11-6-1, 39 pts) to three points behind league pace-setter Manchester United (14-0-3, 42 pts), who also needed a late goal from Shola Ameobi in the 81st minute to knock off Queens Park Rangers.

On other English Premier League results: Arsenal nipped Wigan Athletic 1-0, Sunderland bested Southampton 1-0, West Bromwich Albion edged Norwich City 2-1, Everton sneaked past West Ham United 2-1, Liverpool pummeled Fulham 4-0 and Tottenham played to scoreless draw with Stoke City.