Manchester City have defeated Leicester City to close the gap on the Premier League leaders, Arsenal, to three points.
Starting Lineup
Manchester City: Ederson;Walker, Dias, Laporte;Stones, Rodri; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Silva, Grealish; Haaland.
Leicester City: Iversen; Souttar, Soyuncu, Faes; Castagne, Tielemans, Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall, Kristiansen; Maddison, Vardy.
As expected, Manchester City dominated proceedings as the match kicked off.
Backed with a roaring home fans booing Leicester City players with all touch of the ball by Manchester City, the Premier League champions comfortably held sway over the game.
Just five minutes into the game, John Stones dropped the curtain-raiser with an incredible strike.
Rodri’s header landed on the feet of Stones who wasted no time firing a lovely finish into the back of the net to give City the lead.
It was a nightmare start for the Foxes who needed to find a way to break City’s domineering display to gain a foothold in the game.
Six minutes after Johnstone’s opener, Manchester City doubled the lead with a penalty goal from Erling Haaland.
Wilfred Ndidi gave away the spotkick after he clipped Grealish’s attempt with his hand. After VAR replays, the referee pointed to the penalty spot which was converted by Haaland.
Despite doubling the lead, Manchester City still dominated proceedings going forward but Leicester were gradually emerging into the game.
The Foxes’ first chance came in the 20th minute when Jamie Vardy was teed up in the Manchester City box.
Vardy beat off the challenge from Ederson but hit the side of the net before the offside flag was raised.
City took up the game again and continued rolling with confidence.
The Foxes were perfectly outclassed. They made less attempts upfield and were jittery at the back when under attack by City.
It was not long before Manchester City sank the visitors with the third goal.
Another blunder by Wilfred Ndidi in the halfway line saw the Nigeria international dispossessed by Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian playmaker immediately broke on a blistering pace leading a counter attack by City.
Erling Haaland was already positioned in the final third when De Bruyne threaded the ball to him. Haaland paced pass two Leicester defenders and beat their goalkeeper with a nice dink finish.
The Premier League champions were cruising to victory with a 3-0 lead after just 25 minutes into the game.
City maintained their attacking momentum throughout the first half. They made series of attempts to bury the game with another goal but were held off by the visitors.
Both sides made series of substitutions as the second half kicked off with Pep Guardiola absolutely in control of proceedings despite taking a 3-0 lead.
Leicester City were overwhelmed in the second half despite trailing by three unreplied goals.
They rarely make an attempt on target and were forced back into their own half for most part of the game.
City seems to have lost their striking gear as they failed to add to the scoreline with few minutes reaming before the final whistle.
In the 75th minute, Leicester City hit a consolation strike to restore comeback hopes when substitute, Kelechi Iheanacho, tap home a rebound from Ederson after a cornerkick to make it 3-1
Leicester City came across two big chances late in the game to grab their second goal but squandered them as Manchester City ran out 3-1 winners to close the gap on Arsenal at the top to three points.
