Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has praised striker Sergio Aguero after the Argentine scored five times against Newcastle United.

Aguero had netted just once from open play all season before hitting the back of the net five times in the space of 20 minutes during the 6-1 triumph, and Pellegrini felt that the 27-year-old showed his quality against the Magpies on Saturday afternoon.

The Chilean is quoted by BBC Sport as saying: "Sergio Aguero is different. In other games he was maybe having a lot of chances but not scoring, but today he returned to his normal amount of chances he creates but this time he scored.

"He was not upset about going off. He was having treatment at half time and it was a risk for him to finish the whole game."

City have moved back to the top of the Premier League table but Manchester United could replace them should they beat Arsenal on Sunday.