Darren Bent has warned Sunderland they are far from out of trouble despite their midweek demolition of Bolton.
The Black Cats climbed to the relative calm of 13th place as a result of their 4-0 win over the Wanderers, which established a six-point gap between themselves and the Barclays Premier League's bottom three.
However, 26-year-old Bent, who paid off another sizeable instalment of his £10million transfer fee with a hat-trick which took his tally for the season to 19 goals, knows there is still work to be done with 10 games to go.
He said: "The main thing now is we build on what we did on Tuesday night, we don't sit back and think, 'Yeah, we are out of it' because we are by no means out of it at all.
"The main thing is now we kick on from Tuesday's result and take that into Sunday.
"Manchester City are a dangerous, dangerous side. They have got some world-class players in the side who can hurt anyone.
"But we know if we perform like we can do and play like we did on Tuesday and play like we did at their place - they beat us 4-3, but there were periods when we played them off the park.
"If we do that, anything is possible."
That seven-goal thriller at Eastlands on December 19 came just as the gloss on Sunderland's impressive start to the season started to tarnish.
The Black Cats found themselves 2-0 down within 12 minutes as first Roque Santa Cruz and then, from the penalty spot, Carlos Tevez beat Marton Fulop.
John Mensah and Jordan Henderson dragged the visitors back into it, but after Craig Bellamy and Kenwyne Jones had traded goals, Santa Cruz's second clinched the points for City.
The defeat came in the fifth game of what proved to be a 14-match run without a league victory which belatedly drew to a close on Tuesday evening.
Injury and suspension played a major role in that depressing sequence of results, which fostered an anxiety on the pitch which was close to crippling before the shackles were broken against Bolton.
Bent said: "I don't know what our problem has been, really, in the last couple of weeks, where we have got one up and then sat back and let teams come on to us.
"But on Tuesday night, we went for their throats. We all knew how important it was to everyone and we got the job done."
Bent's goals have repeatedly got the job done this season, and manager Steve Bruce has on more than one occasion urged his team-mates to take some of the pressure off him by chipping in.
But the former Tottenham striker is happy to carry the weight of that responsibility as he attempts to make a late charge into Fabio Capello's England squad for the World Cup finals.
He has not set himself any goals target for the season, but is now just one away from the 20 mark which defines the better strikers, although his exploits in midweek earned him a few text message from exasperated friends.
Bent said: "A few people texted me and said, 'I have taken you out of my Dream Team and look what you have started doing'.
"In the last couple of weeks, I felt I had been a bit below par and not at my best, so it was nice to get back to form.
"Every striker I know wants to get to 20 goals, but my main objective was just to score as many as possible and help Sunderland have a really good season.
"That's all I'm asking for."
Sunderland will be without suspended skipper Lorik Cana, while Bruce has injury doubts over midfielders Lee Cattermole, Kieran Richardson and Jordan Henderson.
