Gabriel Jesus continued his excellent start at Manchester City with a brace, including a 92nd minute strike, to edge out Swansea City on Sunday afternoon and move City into third in the Premier League.
Having opened his account in mid-week, 19-year-old Jesus - making just his second start for City - fired the opening goal within 11 minutes as he stabbed in from close-range.
And while the hosts were the team on top from there on in, they struggled to convert their dominance, and chances, into goals as Paul Clement's Swans stayed in the game at the Etihad Stadium.
After Raheem Sterling was denied a penalty before half-time, the well-organised South Wales outfit showed significantly more threat after the restart with Willy Caballero having to push Gylfi Sigurdsson's 25-yard free-kick onto the post.
Swnasea earned their reward in the 81st minute when Sigurdsson, directly involved in more goals than any midfielder in the Premier League this season, netted his ninth goal of the season.
It looked as though Swansea's impressive revival under Paul Clement would continue until Jesus struck in the second of four minutes' stoppage-time to move City back into the top-four for the first time in over a month.
That cruelly denied Swansea what would have been a deserved point - and the club's first result away at City since March 1951 - but they remain a point clear of the relegation zone despite suffering an 11th successive away defeat at City.
Gabriel Jesus hands City early breakthrough
Pep Guardiola made two changes as Fernandinho returned to the City starting line-up replacing Nicolas Otamendi and Bacary Sagna made way for Gael Clichy in a 3-2-4-1 formation.
Sergio Aguero remained on the bench again as City stuck with the same electrifying attacking triumvirate that tore West Ham United to shreds in mid-week in Jesus, Sterling and Leroy Sane.
Caballero also retained his place in goal over the heavily-criticised Claudio Bravo for the third straight game after the Argentine had kept two successive clean sheets.
Swansea kept faith with the team that came into this encounter having won back-to-back league games as Paul Clement named an unchanged eleven, though captain Leon Britton returned to the bench after a calf injury.
Guardiola told City's official website earlier this week that he was short of ways and ideas to get at Swansea's defence due to the early tactical impact of Clement, but the Spaniard's attack-minded team suggested otherwise early on.
Inside just a couple of minutes, Sane - of whom much of City's early play went through down the left-hand side - dispossessed Kyle Naughton but Jesus side-footed his shot high and wide from the resulting cross.
City were dominant and Jesus, playing over Aguero in a central striking role, handed the home side the lead with his second goal in as many games on 11 minutes.
David Silva did excellently at the by-line to wriggle free and as Martin Olsson came across to prevent Sterling meeting Silva's cross at the near-post, the Swansea full-back inadvertently clipped the ball up into Jesus' path and he reacted quickest to poke beyond Lukasz Fabianski from close-range.
City fail to build on lead despite dominant first-half
City enjoyed large spells of possession and constantly threatened out wide as their front five regularly drifted into pockets of space in behind the Swans' back-line courtesy of some smart combinations.
But it was from a free-kick that visiting 'keeper Fabianski was next called into action, tipping Yaya Toure's attempt destined for the top corner wide, but City maintained a constant pressure.
Minutes later, Jesus came close to turning in Sterling's low cross from inside the six-yard box but for Federico Fernandez's intervention, before Toure dragged his volley wide from the following corner.
The first-half was little more than an attack-v-defence training drill for City, as Toure brought another good stop from Fabianski shortly after the half-hour mark, cutting inside on his right but firing too central.
Swansea looked to double, and sometimes, triple up on the man in possession but struggled to curtail City's joy in wide positions.
Jesus, a £27 million addition from Palmeiras last month, proved a constant menace and he was inches away from meeting Kevin De Bruyne's cross from the right before the Belgian playmaker had a low drive well blocked by Olsson.
And City were denied a penalty before the break as Sterling was harshly booked for perceived simulation. The winger was first to Aleksandar Kolarov's raking long ball and his first touch took him beyond Fabianski, only for the 'keeper's trailing leg to bring him down.
The ball rebounded to the middle of the box where Jesus saw a shot blocked but after the move petered out, referee Mike Dean showed Sterling the yellow card after the linesman wrongly adjudged him to have dived.
Both sides hit the post as Swans improve after the break
Swansea started with more intent in the second-half, after had just the one touch in the City box in the entire first 45 minutes, and it took an excellent stop from Caballero to deny Sigurdsson at a free-kick.
The Icelandic international curled his delivery beyond the wall and towards the top corner but Caballero's outstretched right hand pushed the shot onto the post and wide.
And City hit the post up the other end moments later when De Bruyne released Sane into space down the left and his mis-hit cross struck the outside of the upright.
But they struggled to assert the same dominance, pace and intensity of their play before the break as Swansea saw more of the ball.
The visitors created few opportunities from open play but Alfie Mawson went close to turning in a Sigurdsson corner, rising highest to flash his effort beyond the far post.
Clement introduced January signing Luciano Narsingh from the bench on 65 minutes to inject some vital extra threat but they were twice thankful for Mawson for keeping them in the game at the other end.
The 23-year-old, who scored in the win over Southampton earlier in the week, did well to turn Sterling's cross behind with Jesus lurking before coming across excellently to block Silva's goal-bound shot from 10-yards.
Sigurdsson leveller cancelled out by Jesus' second late on
The home supporters grew restless in the closing stages and rightly so as their one-goal lead became all the more precarious, and Swansea drew level with nine minutes of normal time remaining.
Receiving the ball from Narsingh, Sigurdsson found space to drive a low left-footed effort towards goal and Caballero, hindered by substitute Nathan Dyer blocking his view of the ball, was too slow to get down to it as Swansea drew level.
In response, Guardiola brought on Sergio Aguero as City looked to scramble for a late winner, but it looked like it would be to no avail.
Then, in the dying moments, Jesus pounced upon a loose ball from a few yards out after Fabianski had failed to deal with Silva's lofted ball and bundled over the line to the boisterous relief of the 52,000 home supporters.
Aguero, off the bench, wasted a late chance to make it 3-1 as he headed, but it mattered not as City stole a crucial three points to return to the top-four for the first time since January 4.