Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong paid tribute to Carlos Tevez after the Argentina striker scored his first hat-trick for the club in the 4-1 win over Blackburn at Eastlands.

The former Manchester United forward opened the scoring for Roberto Mancini's side before curling home two superb efforts to complete his treble.
Holland international De Jong told ESPN: "He was fantastic and he keeps scoring. He is very important to us and he is on fire as they say. It was an excellent performance and you have to give it to him, but he also has a good team behind him."

De Jong also saluted new boss Mancini, who has now won four out of four after taking over from Mark Hughes.

"If you win four games after each other it is a great impact," he said. "He has put pressure on our defence and we were good at the back.

"He has changed a lot of technical stuff. We have the same players but he has brought in some players who were written off. You have to give credit to him that he is putting out a good XI every game. We just need to keep the momentum going.

"It is all about confidence. Everyone knows our qualities and everyone is on their toes because you don't want to end up on the bench."

Defender Micah Richards was also full of praise for Mancini.

He told ESPN: "Since the boss has come in he has brought a confidence and we are showing it on the pitch.

"I am back at centre-half. I feel I am at my best there and I am taking every game as it comes and hopefully I can take this form into the weekend game at Everton."

Richards claimed the second goal for City after his 70-metre run saw him set up Benjani Mwaruwari. The Zimbabwean forward hit the post but the England defender put away the rebound.
He said of his surging run: "I just kept running I saw the space and luckily it came off the post and I got the rebound. I got lucky this time. I was looking for a pass but the momentum kept me going."

Mancini was pleased to get another win under his belt but was "angry" at seeing his side concede the first goal under his management.

"It was a good night for us. The players played very well in this match. I thought this match was very hard," he told ESPN.

"Carlos Tevez played very, very well. All the team concentrated for 90 minutes but I'm angry because we conceded a goal. Our gift. I think it's most important we stay concentrated for all the time.

"For me we were playing very, very well. We must continue to play well and not concede one goal."
The win took City up to fourth in the Barclays Premier League - just seven points behind leaders Chelsea - but Mancini is not getting carried away just yet.

He added: "We don't watch the table. We watch the table (in) two months. Now it is not important.

"There are 17 games to the end. Now it's important that we continue this way, we continue to play well and we continue to improve."