City on Saturday kept their Treble dreams alive with a comeback win over feisty Fulham.
The Blues recovered from a shock early goal from Liverpool target Fabio Carvalho to streak away with the game - and allow Pep Guardiola to give Liam Delap and James McAtee valuable late run-outs.
The win, against the runaway top scorers in the four divisions of English football, came with the Blues ' usual egalitarian method of coping without a regular goalscorer by everybody chipping in.
In a week when City signed one goalscoring striker in Julian Alvarez - although he won't arrive until next season - Riyad Mahrez is in danger of spoiling that share-and-share-alike approach to bagging the goals, his two today taking him to 15 for the season - six more than the next highest.
John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan underlined how City can score from virtually anywhere on the pitch, scoring the equaliser and then taking City into the lead to set the football world back on an even keel after the Cottagers’ bold approach had paid off with an early goal.
The clash of the leaders of both the Premier League and the Championship was a neat contrast in style, not least in terms of goalscoring.
Fulham have bagged 76 in all competitions this season, with centre-forward Aleksandar Mitrovic accounting for 27 of them - three times as many as their next highest scorer.
City, whose quest for a big-name central striker continues, despite the signing of Alvarez this week, are much more of a democratic, cooperative affair, and that was illustrated as they bounced back from Carvalho’s early goal with strikes from Gundogan - his sixth of the season - and a Stones header that took his tally to two for the season.
Remarkably, they have 83 goals this season, and only Mahrez has reached double figures.
Guardiola made it plain that he wanted Harry Kane, or another top-class goal-getter, last summer, but the way the Blues have evolve from a team that banked on the goal output of Sergio Aguero to one that shares the task around with scrupulous fairness, is quite something.
Whether the arrival of a goal-sniffing striker will turn them into an unstoppable goal machine, or simply see more of the goals focussed on one man, is a question to be answered next season.
For now, it is driving the Blues on towards three trophies - they are in the FA Cup fifth round, have a great chance to retain or extend their Premier League lead with games against Brentford and Norwich in the next seven days, and then face Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.
Complacency is a beast that Pep Guardiola keeps chained in the vaults of the Etihad Stadium these days, and it rarely escapes.
Not for nothing does he talk up every opponent as being one of the greatest sides in the world, but his praise for Fulham was not just part of that verbal tactic - he meant it.
The visitors have been exceptional in the Championship this season, scoring goals for fun, with Aleksandar Mitrovic the top scorer in the country with 28, while youngster Fabio Carvalho almost joined Liverpool in the transfer window.
With City seeking to get back in the winning groove after their 1-1 draw at Southampton last time out, and refreshed from a rare week off, it praised to be a cracker, and so it was.
Fulham had more bravery and enterprise than most Premier League clubs, and it soon became apparent this would not be the usual case of bold opponents being swamped by City relentlessness, finally drowning in a surging tide of sky blue.
It was a breathless start as two of the top-scoring teams in the country went head to head, and in those exhilarating early minutes, it seemed like we could end up with a 7-7 draw.
Inside 25 seconds Kevin De Bruyne freed Grealish but his shot was well saved by Paulo Gazzaniga.
But the Blues natural tendency to roar forward leaves opportunities for others, and just four minutes in they were exposed quite brutally by the visitors.
Mitrovic has made headlines with his goalscoring exploits this season, but he showed there is more to his game with an instant, no-look pass out to Harry Wilson, racing down the right.
Joao Cancelo was celebrating a new five-year deal this week, but Pep Guardiola has cautioned that he has rough edges still to knock off his game, and his defending is one area where he can improve.
He was on his heels as Wilson stormed down the right and by the time the full-back recovered, the Wales international had time to weigh up a simple cross that provided Fabio Carvalho with an easy finish.
The travelling fans were still celebrating when City equalised, Foden leading the charge down the left, Cancelo joining in before Riyad Mahrez squared through a crowded penalty area and Gundogan swept the ball home.
Six minutes later City were ahead, De Bruyne’s fizzing corner finding Stones’ near post run and glancing header.
But Fulham kept the tie alive until Grealish took a hand and finally showed some of the dribbling ability that made him such a hero at Villa Park.
Weaving his way through a tight defence, Grealish drew a clumsy challenge from Joe Bryan - there was no doubt about the penalty award, and no doubt about Mahrez’s conversion as he swept it high and wide of Gazzaniga into the top corner.
That was Mahrez’s 14th goal of the season, and it was not long before he had his 15th, although this one could be taken off him by the dubious goals committee.
Fulham were creaking under the strain exerted by the champions in the second half, and when Harrison Reed’s ill-advised backwards pass sent De Bruyne streaking away, the outcome had an air of inevitability.
He picked out Mahrez, and his first time, slightly mishit first-time shot bounced off Tim Ream’s heel and found the corner of the net. Whether it was going in anyway is one for the people with slide rules to work out.
The comfortable winning margin allowed City to throw on Delap and McAtee, and their 15-minute cameo rekindled interest in a dying game.
McAtee showed all of the composure, touch and astute football intelligence that caused City to sign him up for another three years this week.
And Delap almost had a dream return after an injury-hit season, heading in from Gundogan’s cross, only to be denied by the linesman’s flag.
