Manchester City supporters got a glimpse of what the future would be like without Joey Barton on Saturday and it was not a pretty sight. The 24-year-old midfield player, who said on Wednesday that he was happy to stay at the club despite interest from Everton, was suspended and his absence allowed Robbie Savage and Tugay Kerimoglu to stamp their authority on a match that Blackburn Rovers never looked like losing.

A quick glance at the teamsheets before kick-off confirmed that the game would be won and lost in midfield and that City, despite having conceded only six Premiership goals at home this season, were in for an uncomfortable afternoon. Ousmane Dabo may have played for Inter Milan and Lazio, but facing Savage is an experience that the former France midfield player is unlikely to forget.

Rovers’ first-choice midfield formation of Morten Gamst Pedersen, Savage, Tugay and David Bentley bristled with intent and it was no surprise when Mark Hughes’s team took the lead on the stroke of half-time through Pedersen. Despite being closely marked by Stephen Jordan, Bentley whipped in the kind of cross that forwards dream about and Pedersen sprinted in front of Hatem Trabelsi to head in.

Stuart Pearce, the City manager, sent on Georgios Samaras and DaMarcus Beasley for the second half, but the effect of the substitutions was negligible. Despite the hype that has surrounded Micah Richards, Hughes had identified the 18-year-old England right back and Jordan as the weak links in the City defence and when Richards tripped Pedersen on the edge of the penalty area in the 62nd minute, the Norway winger dusted himself off and whipped a free kick into the City net.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player hit the ball as clean and as true as Morten does,” Hughes said. “He’s the fittest guy in our squad, he runs the greatest distances and he’s a big player for us at the moment.”

Four months ago, Rovers needed a 4-2 victory against City at Ewood Park to haul themselves off the foot of the table, but this routine win, sealed by Matt Derbyshire’s third goal of the season in the dying minutes, lifted Hughes’s team to tenth and within striking distance of qualifying for the Uefa Cup for the second successive season. Hughes would have been on cloud nine if Bernardo Corradi had not fallen on Andre Ooijer and broken the Holland defender’s left leg in the first half.

“We look like we’re starting to click,” Hughes said. “Players are starting to understand each other’s strengths and we’re starting to play.”