No Silva, no Nasri, no Dzeko, no Aguero, no difference.

For perfectionist manager Roberto Mancini, Saturday afternoon’s work was almost perfect – three points, top of the league, and key players rested for an important week.

And the man who sparked it all was Mancini’s young prodigy, the enigma that is Mario Balotelli.

The time has come to stop picking over the faults and foibles of this young man, and start to appreciate and extol his genius.

The overhead kick which sparked the rout of previously unbeaten Villa was simply exquisite – but it was only part of the full gamut of attributes Balotelli brought to this game.

He led the line with power and panache, teased and tickled the ball in and around the bewildered Villa defenders, and showed poise and maturity, even when he got the inevitable dumping onto the seat of his pants.

His knack of flirting with controversy was also tested when he slipped right in front of the Villa fans, much to the delight of the jeering masses.

Balotelli rose to his feet, fixed them with a trademark glower and raised his finger to his lips, as if to say ‘I will be shutting you up’.

Within moments, he picked up the ball wide on the left, cut inside and curled a peach of a shot inches wide of the scrambling Shay Given’s far post.

Foxed

A couple of minutes after that, he did silence the Villa fans. Adam Johnson’s corner got a touch at the near post which foxed Micah Richards, who mis-controlled it. But the ball dropped to Balotelli, his back to goal, and he launched into an overhead kick which had Given clutching at thin air.

Balotelli had made the breakthrough, just as he did against Everton – and players who can do that are the players who can win you league titles.

City expect teams to come to the Etihad Stadium and defend in depth, with little thought of attack other than swift breaks.

So it was with Villa, who highlighted the dangers that come with dominating teams. You need to stay focussed and keep concentration in defence, and when Richards and Joleon Lescott both suffered a lapse, they needed Joe Hart to rescue them with a great save.

That was a wake-up call, and a warning for tougher tasks ahead.

It is easy to forget, such was the majesty of City’s performance, that this Villa team went into the game unbeaten, one of only four Premier League teams which went into the weekend with that distinction.

That indicated that they would be hard to beat, and the sight of former City heroes Given and Richard Dunne warming up beforehand emphasised the point – those two were not going to let City pass without a fight.

In the last two seasons, that kind of doggedness has often flummoxed City at home, to the point where away games became a blessed relief, and an opportunity to go through their attacking paces.

This City team, honed by Mancini into an efficient, slick and patient outfit, is a different prospect.

Patience is the buzzword at the Etihad these days. Even with succinct attacking talents like Sergio Aguero, Balotelli, Samir Nasri and David Silva, those tightly-packed banks of four which are thrown up outside the 18-yard box are a formidable obstacle.

Calamity

Luckily, City fans have patience coming out of their ears – maybe it’s a natural consequence of living through so many years of calamity and disappointment.

City keep possession, work the ball from side to side, probing and prodding, until the chance presents itself – and then they strike with style.

Of course, it helps when opposing defences start to crack under the strain of coping with such a wide and varied array of attacking abilities, as Stephen Warnock did early in the second half.

Yaya Toure lofted a pass in the direction of Johnson and Warnock, perhaps fuddled by City’s sweeping passing game, was disorientated by that more direct approach and frantically swung a leg in the general direction of the ball as it dropped.

He fell, and Johnson was left to guide his shot past Given, two minutes into the second half. Game over.

The Blues were in top gear by this point, and you began to fear for the health of Villa’s goal difference.

Four minutes later Vincent Kompany, who looks to be back to his brilliant best at a timely moment, rose to glance Johnson’s corner home.

Villa did strike back when the City defence wobbled for a moment and Warnock was left to crash home a shot at the far post, but it was academic to all but the scowling figure of Mancini, to whom clean sheets are things of beauty.

The three-goal margin was restored by James Milner, apt reward for another afternoon of high-octane energy and zip.

Mancini loves Milner, because his prodigious work rate allows artists like Silva and Yaya to paint their pictures, while he fetches and carries the materials.

But he showed that he has quality of his own as well, no more than in his goal. He raked a soaring, precise pass across field to Johnson, hugging the touchline, and then raced back infield to find a gap.

The winger teased the defence, dinked a pass to Gareth Barry and, when he relayed it on to Milner, the end product was a sweeping, unstoppable shot.

A word also needs to be said for Johnson’s contribution.

After the signings of Nasri and Aguero, and the blossoming of Edin Dzeko, he has often been the odd man out in City’s attacking quartet.

But he stepped in for this game, scored one and had a hand in the other three goals.

It is men like him, and Milner, who make it possible for Mancini to keep the explosive powder of Silva and Nasri dry for the crunch games against Villarreal and United.

It is men like them, blended in with the game-breaking abilities of Balotelli, that win you titles.

What is your verdict? Have your say.