A rampant Manchester City side romped to a 5-0 win over Sunderland on Sunday to leapfrog Chelsea into third place in the English Premier League.Adam Johnson finished off a slick team move for the opening goal and Carlos Tevez converted a penalty after he was fouled by Phil Bardsley. Second-half goals from David Silva, Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure completed the
rout.
Sunderland worked hard to get back into the match, but City ran away with the match in the second half to go one point clear of Chelsea into third place, though they have played one game more than the London club.
"I think we played very well," City manager Roberto Mancini said. "We started well and pressed from the first minute."
"We hope we continue to play very well like today - but sometimes it depends on the opponents."
Mancini showed his attacking intent with his starting line-up, which included the much-maligned Mario Balotelli alongside Tevez and Johnson. Dedryk Boyata came into the side as a replacement for the injured Micah Richards, while Gareth Barry was left out.
And City looked on their game from the start with a number of attacks carving through the Sunderland defence in the early stages, before Johnson finished off a flowing move to put them ahead after just nine minutes.
Yaya Toure began things in midfield by exchanging passes with Johnson and then fed the young Englishman with a lovely reverse pass, which Johnson slotted into the corner of the Sunderland goal.
City were rampant and a good ball from Silva found Tevez breaking into the box before Bardsley needlessly cut him down.
Referee Howard Webb had no hesitation in awarding the penalty and, though Simon Mignolet got his left hand to Tevez's spot-kick, he could not stop it from crossing the line.
Balotelli tested Mignolet from long distance in the second half and, though Sunderland threatened more than they had in the first 45 minutes, Silva put the game out of sight with a third, tapping home after a Balotelli shot had been blocked.
Substitute Vieira, with his first touch, made it 4-0 just four minutes later and Toure completed the rout with the fifth 17 minutes from time.
City are 10 points behind leaders Manchester United with only seven games to go, but midfielder Nigel De Jong said anything is possible.
"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," the Dutchman said.
"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."
Earlier, Fulham moved themselves further away from the relegation zone with a 3-0 win over Blackpool at Craven Cottage.
Two goals by Bobby Zamora and one from Dickson Etuhu gave Fulham victory, lifting them to 38 points, six points clear of the bottom three.
Midfielder Danny Murphy said he believed one more win would be enough to ensure Fulham a place in the Premier League again next season.
"I can't see the teams at the bottom winning the three or four games they'd need to go past us," he said.
"You never know, it's been a funny season. (But) the win calms us all down a bit for sure. There is still work to do, but we're fairly confident."
Blackpool sit just one point above the bottom three and manager Ian Holloway admitted his players need to dig deep if they are to stay up.
"I've told them all to go away and watch how we got promoted last year and the goals we've scored this year and tell me we are a bad side," he said.
"I've asked them to do that because we need to remain totally positive. We can have probably five defeats and two victories and we'd stay up, I believe.
"Whether I'm right or wrong, you asked me about it and 39 points might keep us up. If we do that it'll be a fantastic achievement, better than last year."
rout.
Sunderland worked hard to get back into the match, but City ran away with the match in the second half to go one point clear of Chelsea into third place, though they have played one game more than the London club.
"I think we played very well," City manager Roberto Mancini said. "We started well and pressed from the first minute."
"We hope we continue to play very well like today - but sometimes it depends on the opponents."
Mancini showed his attacking intent with his starting line-up, which included the much-maligned Mario Balotelli alongside Tevez and Johnson. Dedryk Boyata came into the side as a replacement for the injured Micah Richards, while Gareth Barry was left out.
And City looked on their game from the start with a number of attacks carving through the Sunderland defence in the early stages, before Johnson finished off a flowing move to put them ahead after just nine minutes.
Yaya Toure began things in midfield by exchanging passes with Johnson and then fed the young Englishman with a lovely reverse pass, which Johnson slotted into the corner of the Sunderland goal.
City were rampant and a good ball from Silva found Tevez breaking into the box before Bardsley needlessly cut him down.
Referee Howard Webb had no hesitation in awarding the penalty and, though Simon Mignolet got his left hand to Tevez's spot-kick, he could not stop it from crossing the line.
Balotelli tested Mignolet from long distance in the second half and, though Sunderland threatened more than they had in the first 45 minutes, Silva put the game out of sight with a third, tapping home after a Balotelli shot had been blocked.
Substitute Vieira, with his first touch, made it 4-0 just four minutes later and Toure completed the rout with the fifth 17 minutes from time.
City are 10 points behind leaders Manchester United with only seven games to go, but midfielder Nigel De Jong said anything is possible.
"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," the Dutchman said.
"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."
Earlier, Fulham moved themselves further away from the relegation zone with a 3-0 win over Blackpool at Craven Cottage.
Two goals by Bobby Zamora and one from Dickson Etuhu gave Fulham victory, lifting them to 38 points, six points clear of the bottom three.
Midfielder Danny Murphy said he believed one more win would be enough to ensure Fulham a place in the Premier League again next season.
"I can't see the teams at the bottom winning the three or four games they'd need to go past us," he said.
"You never know, it's been a funny season. (But) the win calms us all down a bit for sure. There is still work to do, but we're fairly confident."
Blackpool sit just one point above the bottom three and manager Ian Holloway admitted his players need to dig deep if they are to stay up.
"I've told them all to go away and watch how we got promoted last year and the goals we've scored this year and tell me we are a bad side," he said.
"I've asked them to do that because we need to remain totally positive. We can have probably five defeats and two victories and we'd stay up, I believe.
"Whether I'm right or wrong, you asked me about it and 39 points might keep us up. If we do that it'll be a fantastic achievement, better than last year."
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