Two sides at opposite ends of the Premier League table faced off at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, with Manchester City continuing in their rich vein of form, despite a resilient display from David Moyes' Sunderland side.
For the first time this season, the Black Cats fielded an unchanged XI,which says rather a lot about their inability to string consistent form together.
In an open first half, it was Sunderland who had the best of the early exchanges, with Defoe testing Will Caballero's net, with a fierce shot that hit the left post.
Sunderland themselves looked far sharper than they have for much of the season, and showed a discipline and fight that threatened to catchPep Guardiola's side off guard.
The dogged Sunderland midfield pairof Darron Gibson and Didier N'Dong deliberately targeted Yaya Toure when he was in possession, not allowing him any time of the ball, and then looking to counter from there.
The pressure forced City to play wider, but Sunderland looked to sit deep, and not allow the likes of Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane to find any joy in working the ball into the Black Cats' box.
The likes of John O'Shea and Billy Jones looked surprisingly solid and organised, and the only joy found was when Jones slipped and allowed Leroy Sane to whip a ball across the face of goal, agonisingly past David Silva's right boot.
Toure seemed to recognise that he was being targeted, and on 41 minutes he seemed to have had enough, winning the ball back in the Sunderland half before rampaging forward, as he does when at his best.
Space opened up for him, and he found Sterling out on the right, who played a typically efficient ball in, for Sergio Aguero to poke home, after darting in front of Lamine Kone. The goal was harsh on Sunderland, after their solid first half display, but City's quality was clear.
Sergio Aguero averages a goal once every 109 mins for Man City; a better return than any other player in Premier League history (10+ goals). pic.twitter.com/meUo6uEm5o
It was also a desperately bad time to concede, with Sunderland heads potentially dropping before the second half. The Black Cats started the second half in a similar way to how they started the first, but their biggest problem, was that City did the same.
Sane Doubled the Citizens' advantage just before the hour mark with a crisp finish, after a glorious assist from Silva.
6 - Leroy Sane has scored 6 goals from just 8 shots on target in all competitions for Manchester City. Pinpoint.
The writing was on the wall for Sunderland; they had to throw everything at City and hope for the best. The closing down in the midfield remained present, with AdnanJanuzaj looking lively, and Fabio Borini contributing a lot in the way of hard running, but City were just too good for them, and after the second goal the game looked beyond them, as the players visibly began to tire too.
City will now focus on their midweek game, where they host Stoke City, and former manager Mark Hughes, hoping to keep pace with Chelsea as best they can.
Sunderland fans will hope that the team can apply themselves to such a degree in their remaining fixtures, as it is surely their only hope for yet another great escape.
Sunderland XI vs. Man City: Pickford; Jones, O'Shea, Kone, Oviedo; Ndong, Gibson; Januzaj, Larsson, Borini; Defoe.
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