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