A Wilfried Bony header is enough to give Manchester City a 1-0 half-time lead over the striker's former side Swansea City in their Premier League clash.

A Wilfried Bony header was enough to give Manchester City a 1-0 half-time lead over the striker's former side Swansea City this afternoon.

Wilfred Bony (L) of Manchester City celebrates scoring his team's first goal with his team mates Jesus Navas (C) and David Silva (R) during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and Swansea City at Etihad Stadium on December 12, 2015 © Getty Images

The visitors made the stronger start of the two sides, and came close to taking a shock early lead when Jack Cork played a precise through-ball into the path of Wayne Routledge for a one-on-one opportunity with City keeper Joe Hart, only for the England international to deny the forward.

City's opening chance came on the quarter-hour mark when David Silva teed up Bony in a good position, but the former Swansea striker's tame effort was easy for Lukasz Fabianski to keep hold of.

Swansea continued to threaten their opponents on the break, almost finding an opening moments after Bony's effort when Routledge led a counter-attack before finding Gylfi Sigurdsson, whose effort on goal was tipped over the bar by Hart.

The hosts broke the deadlock on 26 minutes through Bony, who found a way past Ashley Williams at a Jesus Navas corner to send a header past Fabianski.

Swansea continued to cause problems for their opponents, with Andre Ayew heading over the crossbar from a Sigurdsson free kick moments after the City goal.

The hosts could have added a second goal before the break, as Yaya Toure tried his luck from outside the penalty area, only for the Ivorian to be denied by Fabianski.