Manuel Pellegrini feels his star-studded Manchester City midfield has returned to its best form.
David Silva scored two goals and Yaya Toure one as City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium to join league leaders Chelsea on 39 points at the summit of the Premier League table.
In the wake of a commanding midfield showing from Toure, who was criticised earlier in the season, Pellegrini felt it was not only the Ivory Coast international who had improved his output after a subpar beginning to the 2014/15 campaign.
"Yaya was very criticised at the beginning of the season but it was not only Yaya (who) was not putting in his best performance," said the City boss after Toure netted his fourth goal in six outings.
"I said then, when our midfielders like Yaya, Fernandinho, (Samir) Nasri and Silva return to their normal performance, the team will play again the way we normally do.
"I think that all of them this moment are in a very good moment, especially Fernandinho, Yaya and Nasri. They are playing regular and David is returning from a long injury with his knee the way he knows how to play."
The strength of City's midfield was even further vindicated by the fact that James Milner played up front in the absence of injured strike trio Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko.
