It was not easy, it was nervy and oh-my-god-are-we-going-to-stuff-it for over an hour, but the Manchester City quality shone through in the final 30 minutes as Manuel Pellegrini's men moved to the brink of clinching their second English Premier League title in three years with a 4-0 win over Aston Villa.
Manchester City realistically only need a point now, after three at the Etihad, three points which came by via the difficult route, with Villa holding on for 63 minutes, before the floodgates opened.
The first half was not as City would have planned, as Villa, already safe from relegation, held firm, while carrying a decent threat on the counter; but once the first goal was swept in by Edin Dzeko in the 64th minute, there only looked like being one winner as the red half of Merseyside looked on in disdain.
Dzeko slotted home from close-range off a perfect cross from Pablo Zabaleta to make it 1-0, before the Bosnian latched onto a rebound after Brad Guzan had made an initial save from Samir Nasri in the 72nd minute.
Stevan Jovetic drilled a low shot home one minute from time to make it 3-0 before Yaya Toure got his now customary goal in stoppage time - City's 100th of the season -- to send his team two points clear of Liverpool with one game to play.
Man City can realistically clinch the title with just a draw against West Ham on Sunday, as they hold a +13 goal difference advantage over Liverpool.
"Now we can talk about the title because if we win the next game we will win the title -- we couldn't say that before today," Pellegrini said on Wednesday night.
"It will be important to win, not only because of the title, but the way we can win the title. I think that we have a style of play, we are an attractive team, we score a lot of goals, and we always think we can score more.
"There are many ways to win a title but I choose this one: attacking football. For me, that has just as much importance as winning the title -- I'm very happy to manage a team in this way," added Pellegrini perhaps alluding to a certain manager of a London club with whom he has never really got along too well.
"It's been a very strange season because we were always chasing -- we had three games in hand at most stages, now we are top of the table and I hope we will not lose on Sunday."
In the other game of the night, there was plenty to celebrate for Sunderland as well, as they completed their great escape with a 2-0 win over West Brom at the Stadium of Light.
Two goals in the first half from Jack Colback and Fabio Borini gave the Black Cats three points, and with it taking them all the way up to 14th in the table with 38 points, five more than third from bottom Norwich, who look set to join already-relegated Fulham and Cardiff, with West Brom, three points above the relegation zone, holding a huge advantage on goal difference.
