Sergio Aguero scored four goals and missed a penalty as Manchester City saw off Tottenham in a thrilling match to keep the pressure on leaders Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.

Two of Aguero's goals came from the spot, and he went home with the match ball despite being denied a hat-trick of penalties by Hugo Lloris's fine stop.

Spurs had Federico Fazio sent off on his league debut, but the game hinged on a brilliant 65th-minute penalty save from City keeper Joe Hart, who denied Roberto Soldado with the score at 2-1.

The win means City close the gap on Chelsea to two points, but Jose Mourinho's side can restore their five-point margin with victory over Crystal Palace.

City ended the game as emphatic winners but they were pushed hard by an enterprising Tottenham team who, inspired by the impressive Christian Eriksen, played a full part in a breathless encounter.

Aguero was the star of the show, however, and he struck his first goal of a magnificent individual performance to give City the lead after 13 minutes.

The Argentina striker collected a Frank Lampard pass on the left-hand side of the area after Erik Lamela lost possession, and cut back to bend a fierce low shot into the opposite corner.

A frantic first half frequently saw chances in quick succession at either end, so it was appropriate Spurs levelled just over 90 seconds after falling behind.Again the goal came after a defensive mistake, with Fernando brushed off the ball after taking a heavy touch and Soldado feeding Eriksen to fire in a shot that Hart could not keep out.

Eriksen was causing problems every time he got the ball but, sadly for Spurs, they were being given an even sterner examination by the pace of City's attacks down the wings and the movement of Aguero and David Silva in the middle.

Though centre-back Fazio was making his Premier League debut for Spurs, it was Younes Kaboul who looked the novice, while Lamela continued to struggle whenever he was asked to track back.

And it was from Lamela's clumsy challenge on Lampard that Aguero was given a chance to quickly restore City's lead from the spot, which he did with a cool finish into the bottom-left corner.

The game continued at a frantic pace, but Lampard only lasted until the 28th minute, when he was carried off with what looked like a thigh injury.

Without him, City did not lose their attacking momentum and Aguero should have completed his hat-trick just after the half-hour mark, after Kaboul tripped Silva.

This time, however, he fired his penalty down the middle and Lloris denied him with an outstretched leg, with the Argentina striker's acrobatic follow-up flying over.

Lloris was being given little protection by his defence but continued to thwart Aguero, making a series of fine stops either side of the break.

Hart was also being kept busy but there was no doubt over his stand-out save, which came after Martin Demichelis tripped Soldado and referee Jonathan Moss awarded the third penalty of the match.

Soldado was denied by Hart, who flung himself to his right to push it to safety, then denied the striker again from close range seconds later.

The City fans celebrated those moments as loudly as either of their first two goals, and were soon cheering again when Aguero finally scored his third.

Fazio pulled back the striker as he looked to get on the end of a Jesus Navas cross and, after the Spurs defender was sent off, Aguero resumed his duel with Lloris, this time firing successfully to the keeper's right.

Tottenham's 10 men continued to attack, but with less threat than before, and City soon made sure of the points.

Fittingly, it was Aguero who netted, beating the offside trap before angling his finish past Lloris.

James Milner fired against the post in the closing minutes as City pushed for a fifth goal but, by then, the result was no longer in doubt.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini: "It's a very good victory for us. It's always difficult to come back from the international break. We played well, we scored four goals and I don't know how many chances we had.

"We must now start to think about Champions League. We are going to Russia [to face CSKA Moscow on Tuesday] to try to win. For me it's a good pressure to win all the games when you have a good team. We made five or six changes. I trust a lot in this squad."

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino: "I think the first penalty after we scored made it difficult for us. We played 70 minutes when we were always in the game. Manchester City have very good players. The result was bad but there are a lot of positives to take.

"The first penalty for me was ridiculous but we need to accept the decision. We need to review the game - my feeling was it is not a red card. A lot of things happened. It's difficult to analyse.

"We always believed it was possible to get a point."