Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has talked up the importance of his side's 4-1 victory over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day.

Goals from Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony all but ended the match as a contest inside 25 minutes, while Kevin De Bruyne added a fourth in the second half before a Fabio Borini consolation.

The victory followed a 2-1 loss at the hands of Arsenal on Monday night, and Pellegrini believes that it was important for his side to not only win, but win convincingly.

"It was a very important victory, not only because we won the three points but also in the way we played. We returned to our normal performance - playing attractive football, scoring goals," he told reporters.

"I said after we lost against Arsenal it was very difficult to talk about positive things but I think we had more than 60% of possession of the ball. That gave me a sign we were returning to our style.

"It was very important today to score four goals and create at least four more clear chances."

City now sit just three points off the top of the table after both Leicester City and Arsenal were beaten on Boxing Day.