Emmanuel Adebayor scored again to maintain Manchester City's perfect start to the Premier League campaign at Portsmouth.
City striker heads only goal at Fratton Park
Emmanuel Adebayor scored again to maintain Manchester City's perfect start to the Premier League campaign at Portsmouth.
The striker got the winner - his third goal in as many league games - when rising in the box to powerfully head home Gareth Barry's corner in the 30th minute.
Micah Richards then tapped in on 40 minutes from a Craig Bellamy cross but he was given offside.
Pompey came more into the game in the second period but substitute David Nugent shot straight at Shay Given late on as City held on to make it three wins out of three in the league so far and rise to fourth in the table.
Sulaiman Al Fahim, who fronted the consortium that bought City a year ago, was sat in the crowd four days after it was announced an agreement had been made for him to buy Portsmouth from Alexandre Gaydamak.
City are now benefiting from their change of ownership - they only won two away games last season and have matched that total already in their 100 per cent start to the season.
Mark Hughes' men are now in the top four - and Pompey fans will hope Al Fahim brings them a similar change of fortune after losing their first four league games of the campaign.
The 32-year-old businessman was sporting a Pompey away shirt with his name printed on the back, and he was applauded by fans outside the ground.
Quality
City boss Hughes has packed his squad full of quality in the 12 months since their own takeover and Joleon Lescott made his league debut for the club here, while Robinho could only get on the bench.
Pompey, on the other hand, are not dreaming of galacticos yet. They brought Tommy Smith and Michael Brown to the club last week and the pair were given their first starts.
Brown clattered into tackles and Smith worked the flanks but Pompey boss Paul Hart may need more than a strong work ethic to keep the club in the top flight.
David James was not included in the matchday squad, with the England goalkeeper carrying an injury but also heavily linked with a move away from Pompey as the team built by Harry Redknapp is dismantled.
Without a free-scoring full-back like Glen Johnson, Sylvain Distin at centre-back or Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe in attack, Pompey at first did not look like troubling a team like City.
But striker Frederic Piquionne did cause City problems with his running as he chased a long ball from Aaron Mokoena and forced Given into a rushed clearance.
He then fired into the side netting when Brown passed beyond the visitors' defence.
But City were merely getting into their stride and Carlos Tevez fired just wide with a free-kick after Richard Hughes earned a yellow card for a foul on Stephen Ireland.
Another set-piece caused confusion in Pompey's penalty area, with Asmir Begovic fumbling under pressure from Lescott then saving bravely at the feet of Richards.
Opener
Adebayor's opener, on the half-hour mark, was a goal of simplicity. Barry's inswinging corner from the right found the former Arsenal striker, who escaped the attention of Mokoena and planted his header home from close range.
Richards then had an effort chalked off for offside following a slick move that saw Tevez send Bellamy down the flank with a reverse ball through Niko Kranjcar's legs.
In the second period, Adebayor squeezed between Smith and Younes Kaboul with a neat turn to fool the Pompey pair but his finish was saved by Begovic.
Richards suffered an injury just before the hour mark, with his left leg locking, and needed to be replaced by Pablo Zabaleta.
Kaboul and John Utaka were then both off target with long-range efforts before the end.
Late on, Nugent came on and passed up a simple opportunity, chesting the ball down but then shooting straight into the ground and at Given from close range.
