LONDON, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Roberto Mancini started his English Premier League journey in charge of Manchester City with a 2-0 home win over Stoke City on Saturday.

    City came to the lead on 28 minutes through Bulgarian winger Martin Petrov's far post tap-in and Carlos Tevez poked home before the break to double the advantage for home side.

    The Stoke side have lost their last five league matches and settled in 11th place.

    City, playing their first game under Italian Mancini since Mark Hughes's 18-month reign as manager ended last Saturday, remained sixth following their eighth league win of the season.