Fabian Delph felt Manchester City restored some stability with Saturday's routine 3-1 victory over Hull.
The recently-recalled Delph got on the scoresheet as City claimed their first win in five Premier League games in a one-sided encounter at the Etihad Stadium.
Successive draws against Stoke and Liverpool before the March international break followed by another at Arsenal and a defeat at Chelsea last week had just loosened City's grip on a top-four spot.
The Stamford Bridge loss to the competition's leaders, which killed off any lingering hopes of a late charge for the title, was particularly galling but the response was convincing and eased some concerns.