Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero feels confidence has been restored at the Etihad Stadium and the champions can finish the season strongly.
City's hopes of retaining their Barclays Premier League title may appear slim but Aguero and his team-mates produced the perfect response to their damaging - and dismal - surrender at Southampton just over a week ago by brushing aside npower Championship outfit Leeds 4-0 in the FA Cup.
The Argentinian struck twice and attention now switches back to the league with City trailing rivals Manchester United by 12 points, with 12 games remaining, ahead of Sunday's clash against third-placed Chelsea. Aguero told City TV: "This helped us to do things well and give us confidence for the Chelsea game."
He added: "It will be a good match, difficult, but obviously we need to go out and win. I think against Southampton none of us played well and it was a bad day for us all - an error which we hope not to repeat.
"We will try not to lose any more points in the league so we can keep all three points. I think we've played well and reached the next round. We need to continue like this."
City outclassed a Leeds side who continue to labour in pursuit of a play-off place in their own division. The result did not seem in doubt after Yaya Toure combined with David Silva and Carlos Tevez before opening the scoring after just five minutes.
Aguero quickly added the second from the penalty spot after he was deemed to have been pulled back by Tom Lees and created the third for Tevez early in the second half. Aguero wrapped up the win when he clipped a well-weighted ball from Silva beyond Jamie Ashdown and in off the post 16 minutes from time.
Manager Roberto Mancini, who made clear he was not fearing for his position prior to a game billed as vital for his future, intends to carry on fighting on both fronts.
He said: "I had a negative energy after Southampton but I am happy after this game. I wanted a response after Southampton and we played well. Now it is important we continue.
"We are a top team. If we lose an important game we should continue to work hard. In football it is never finished."
