Manchester City ensured Sunderland's poor run of form continued with a 5-0 thumping at Eastlands further consolidating City in the top four placings. Sunderland have just one point from their last six games and have now failed to score in their last four outings.
Fortunately the points accumulated in the earlier part of the campaign should see them sucked into a relegation battle because on this performance they are ripe for a relegation place.
Manchester City overwhelmed their visitor's starting in the 9th minute when Adam Johnson collected a return pass from Yaya Toure to drive home the opener.
The Black Cats then found themselves two down as Carlos Tevez was brought down by Phil Bardsley and the Argentinean converted the resulting penalty.
Steve Bruce's team tried to rally but for all their possession lacked the killer ball to worry the City defence.
Any hopes of a second half rally by the visitor's vanished just after the hour mark as City hit three in ten minutes.
David Silva made it three after Mario Balotelli's initial shot had only been parried by Simon Mignolet. Patrick Vieira had literally only just come on as a substitute when his first touch from an Aleksandar Kolarov corner found the back of the net.
Sunderland's miserable afternoon ended when Toure made the most of an awful Lee Cattermole back pass to make it five.
Roberto Mancini now has the satisfaction of seeing his City team sit in third place in the Premiership after an emphatic performance against admittedly poor opposition.
Referee: Howard Webb
Venue: City of Manchester Stadium Attendance: 44,197
Man City scorers: Johnson 9, Tevez (pen) 15, Silva 63, Vieira 67, Y Toure 73 Sunderland scorers:
MAN CITY 25 Hart 04 Kompany 13 Kolarov (yellow card) 19 Lescott 38 Boyata (McGivern 70) 11 Johnson (Vieira 66 (yellow card) 21 Silva (Wright-Phillips 78) 34 De Jong 42 Y Toure 32 Tevez 45 Balotelli
Substitutes 12 Taylor, 48 McGivern, 07 Milner, 08 Wright-Phillips, 18 Barry, 24 Vieira, 10 Dzeko
SUNDERLAND 2 Mignolet 02 Bardsley (yellow card) (Elmohamady 46) 04 Turner (yellow card) 05 Mensah (yellow card) 29 Ferdinand 06 Cattermole 10 Henderson (Zenden 59) 11 Muntari (Colback 72) 28 Sessegnon 17 Welbeck 33 Gyan
Substitutes 01 Gordon, 34 Adams, 07 Zenden, 08 Malbranque, 25 Colback, 27 Elmohamady, 38 Lynch
