Adam Johnson, Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure got the goals as Roberto Mancini's men romped to victory at Eastlands. And City defender Lescott told Sky Sports: "We dominated from start to finish. "You can't ask for that level of performance every week...it's nice to get results - and today we got the result as well as the performance." Team-mate Nigel de Jong said: "Our main goal at the start of the season was to qualify for the Champions League and that's still our main target, so it was a helpful three points today. "There are still seven games to go and anything can happen but this is a great confidence boost for our team - we are real contenders for the Champions League places." Mancini was pleased with a win which moves his FA Cup semi-finalists up to third in the Premier League table, a point clear of Chelsea. He said : "I think we played very well. We started well and pressed from the first minute." The Italian believes his team's league form is benefiting from fewer fixtures. He explained: "In the last 45 days we've played every three days and we've had more player injuries. That was the problem. "Now all the players have recovered and we play Saturday-Saturday we don't have a problem. "We hope we continue to play very well like today - but sometimes it depends on the opponents." Sunderland manager Steve Bruce said: "We were certainly nowhere near good enough - we were second best all afternoon all over the pitch. "You can say Manchester City were very, very good but in a lot of positions we were nowhere near where we should be and we've certainly got to do better than we were today. "We responded when we had a setback at Newcastle a few months ago and we've got to do the same thing again. "The performance disappointed me more than it surprised me but I don't want to make excuses - we were simply second best in every department. We got our backsides well and truly kicked." Asked if the sale of striker Darren Bent to Aston Villa has halted the progress of a team who have picked up just one point from their last seven games, Bruce added on Sky Sports: "You can look at all sorts of stuff. "Statistically, when you look at it, of course - but it's no good looking at what's happened in the past. "We've got to pull our socks up and look forward to the challenge of the last seven games."
