Manchester City Go 4th

Shay Given saved a second-half penalty to help Manchester City claim a 0-0 draw at Birmingham which moves them up to fourth in the Premier League table.

City were lacklustre throughout and hardly tested Birmingham keeper Maik Taylor, whilst the home side will think they could have taken victory.

The big moment came early in the second-half when Nigel De Jong was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, but James McFadden could not beat the excellent Given.

It was a fourth successive draw in the Premier League for Mark Hughes' side, who still climbed into fourth.

But Hughes, who celebrated his 46th birthday, knows City will have to show a massive improvement if they are to sustain their challenge.

His expensive group of players never came to terms with the swirling wind and a fired-up Birmingham team exuding confidence after last week's impressive win over Sunderland.

The Eastlands outfit missed the threat up front of the injured Emmanuel Adebayor and struggled to break down a defence in which centre-backs Roger Johnson and Scott Dann were rock-solid performers.

The visitors also failed to come to grips with midfield, where Barry Ferguson was a key player - before being sent off in injury-time for a second bookable offence - while up front the pace of Christian Benitez always kept them on their toes.

Unsurprisingly, Gareth Barry was booed by the home fans every time he touched the ball - after his 12-year association with Aston Villa.

The England midfielder, in front of Fabio Capello, was caught napping in possession early on by Ferguson - but his cross-shot drifted wide.

In the ninth minute, Benitez came close to giving them the lead. His low 20 yard drive took a deflection off Vincent Kompany and crashed against Given's left-hand post.

Benitez caused plenty of early problems, and Given made an excellent block on the edge of his box to deny the Ecuador international the opening goal.

City tried to retaliate - and Maik Taylor, replacing on-loan City man Joe Hart in goal, was unable to cling on to a fierce drive from Wright-Phillips. But Stephen Carr made the clearance.

Birmingham looked the more dangerous, and Given was forced to tip over a swerving McFadden drive after being found in space by Benitez.

Ferguson became the first player to be yellow-carded after 27 minutes, when blocking off a touchline run from Craig Bellamy.

Taylor blocked a point-blank-range effort from Roque Santa Cruz after good play by Carlos Tevez and Wright-Phillips down the right flank.

Sebastian Larsson was incensed when brought down in full flight by Nigel De Jong, but the Dutch midfielder escaped a booking. Referee Mike Dean came across to the dugout and spoke to Birmingham assistant manager Roy Aitken, before allowing play to continue.

Given again excelled himself when saving a fierce attempt from Bowyer, before Dann was yellow-carded in first-half injury-time for a challenge on Tevez.

Wayne Bridge was booked after kicking the ball away, as the visitors continued to look below their best.

Alex McLeish's side had a golden opportunity to take the lead after 56 minutes when De Jong clumsily handled the ball in an aerial challenge with Larsson and conceded a penalty.

But Given was again his side's saviour as he dived away to his left to keep out McFadden's spot-kick, who dropped to his knees and punched the ground after seeing his attempt saved too easily.

McFadden's frustration at failing to score boiled over as he was yellow-carded for chopping down De Jong.

Hughes made his first substitution just after the hour when he brought on Stephen Ireland in place of De Jong. Then McLeish took off McFadden and replaced him with Keith Fahey.

Birmingham were still the more threatening, and Cameron Jerome was just wide with a header from Larsson's centre - before Santa Cruz earned a booking for pulling back Fahey and was subsequently replaced by Martin Petrov.

There was a rare threat to the Birmingham goal when Taylor tipped over a Tevez cross shot as Birmingham edged further away from the bottom three.

But one blow for the hosts was the Ferguson red card after the when the former Rangers man was guilty of knocking the ball out of Pablo Zabaleta's hands as he attempted to take an injury-time throw.

Yu - Superstars Not On Agenda

Vice-chairman Sammy Yu insists Birmingham City will not blow all of their £40million spending spree on one or two "superstars".

It is common knowledge that Birmingham boss Alex McLeish will be handed a substantial sum of money to bring in new additions in the January transfer window to boost his side's chances of Premier League survival following the recent takeover by Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung.

The rumour mill of who will be arriving at St Andrews in the New Year has already begun, with Celtic's Aiden McGeady and Spurs duo Roman Pavlyuchenko and Alan Hutton linked with the West Midlands outfit.

But Yeung's second in command, Yu, has warned Blues fans not to expect the type of eight-figure fees that have become familiar with Sunday's opponents Manchester City, in a game which can be seen live on Sky Sports 1 and HD 1.

"They have a different way," he told The Independent of the Eastlands outfit.

"Their logic is to do it immediately with the resources they have, get things done the next day. All the best to them, but we are different. We have to make a plan for a long-term programme.

"There's no point buying two or three top players costing £20-£40m who come in as superstars, standing in the middle of the park and doing nothing.

"It could happen. We'll get players of reasonable standard, better than we have, who can adapt to the club. We'll accumulate step by step like that, then we'll have a healthy way of proceeding to the top level.

"History has told us about Leeds, a big club, but how quickly they collapsed. From the top of the world to the bottom of hell."

Yu is also adamant that the new regime will allow McLeish the freedom to dictate goings-on at City, even though he will be more hands on than your typical board member.

"All my life I've been involved in football, from the bottom to the top, coaching the national team," he added.

"I was appointed to work mainly at the training ground with Alex, first to improve or strengthen the team and second to see any possibility of helping develop the training ground for young players and future talent."

No Barca Move For Robinho

Barcelona insist they have made no approach for Robinho since being warned off the playmaker over the summer.

The Manchester City forward continues to be strongly linked with a move to Camp Nou, with reports suggesting a January switch could be on the cards.

Robinho joined City in a record-breaking deal in 2008 but has struggled for consistency during his time in England.

He has also seen his 2009/10 campaign blighted by injury, restricting him to just a handful of appearances this term.

City, who now boast a squad brimming with attacking talent, have fared admirably in his absence, helping to fuel speculation that they could be willing to discuss a sale.

Mark Hughes has, however, maintained that he has no plans to part with Robinho, insisting the 25-year-old remains an important part of his plans.

That was the message given to Barcelona when they came calling during pre-season and the Catalan giants claim they have made no fresh move since then.

"Robinho is an interesting player who we asked about in the summer," said Barca sporting director Txiki Begiristain.

"But City would not talk about a transfer and since then we have not made any move."

Van Persie Expects Open Title Race

Robin van Persie believes the Premier League title race is more competitive than ever this season.

The Arsenal striker is hoping to help his side to a first top flight crown in six years and feels the Gunners are well placed to end that barren run.

Arsene Wenger's men have seen a number of their rivals wobble of late, while they have established the kind of consistency which suggests they will be in the mix come next May.

Dutch ace Van Persie expects that to be the case, insisting the north London outfit have learned from mistakes they have made in the past and are ready to reclaim their standing at the summit of English football.

"We're very encouraged by other teams dropping points," he said, with Arsenal currently sitting fourth in the Premier League table and holding a game in hand on all of the sides above them.

"When you look at last weekend, Liverpool lost three points, Chelsea lost.

"In our last eight league games, we've won six so it's looking good for us.

"As long as we stay consistent against the smaller teams. We need to keep winning the three points against them.

"Last season we had some bad spells. We had four draws as well back-to-back so we have to avoid that."