Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini was delighted after his side's easy win against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Citizens' impressive run in the English Premier League saw them move level on points with leaders Chelsea despite missing key players in the offensive department.
"I was always confident because we played very well in the first half," Pellegrini said.
"We had the patience to try and create the space and we didn't allow them to have counter attacks.
"If we could continue creating the space that we did in the first half I was sure we would score. In the end we scored three goals against a difficult team that defended very well.
"We were without [Sergio] Aguero, [Edin] Dzeko and [Vincent] Kompany but the other players have their moments and have an important answer in the way David [Silva] had today.
"[James] Milner gave a very good performance, he is a player that works very hard, and creates a lot of movement and space for the rest of his teammates.
"We have been preparing for this match all week and we planned all this movement and all the freedom for Milner to create the space for other teammates."
Manchester City face West Bromwich Albion on Friday and the Chilean believes that it is too early for Edin Dzeko or Stevan Jovetic to recover in time to be involved.
"I don't they [the injured strikers] will be fit for Boxing Day," the manager added.
"We will see how Stevan Jovetic improves from now until Friday."
