Had someone told you at the turn of the century that in 2019/20 a clash between Manchester City and Leicester City would actually be a contest between two teams that have both won the Premier League title in the last four years, you probably wouldn’t have believed them.
Nonetheless, defending champions Manchester City welcomed the 2015/16 champions Leicester City to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening in the 18th round of the Premier League campaign, in a game that is very likely to have had a big impact on the title race. They are the two teams currently chasing table-topping Liverpool; Leicester in second place with an ten-point deficit ahead of the clash, City in third with four points less than Leicester.
Team News
City boss Pep Guardiola was unable to count on long-term absentees Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane, both out with knee injuries. Forward Sergio Aguero was also injured recently, and though he was back in contention for this game, he started on the bench, as did Oleksandr Zinchenko. John Stones was out, and Guardiola decided to start Ilkay Gundogan ahead of Rodri.
Ederson Moraes was in goal. Nicolas Otamendi paired up with Fernandinho at the back once more, and they were flanked by Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy. Gundogan sat behind Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva in midfield, while striker Gabriel Jesus was supported by Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling.
Brendan Rodgers in the away dugout was only without midfielder Matthew James, who has been missing for a while now with a calf injury.
Kasper Schmeichel stood between the posts. Caglar Soyuncu and Jonny Evans have become a very stable centre-back partnership in central defence. Ricardo Pereira was on their right, Ben Chilwell on their left. Wilfried Ndidi anchored the midfield, with Youri Tielemans and James Maddison further up. Ayoze Perez and Harvey Barnes flanked striker Jamie Vardy.
The First Half
Both teams tried to make a mark on the game early on, with a half-chance apiece within two minutes. But as time wore on, it seemed more likely that the visitors would be the ones to blink first, and in the sixth minute a mistake by Evans almost proved costly, but the rest of the Leicester defence reacted well and stopped Sterling’s run.
City pressed high and pressed well, with De Bruyne often going as high as Jesus to help in closing Leicester players down, and the main line of the battle was gradually being moved towards Schmeichel. The Foxes, however, looked dangerous whenever they broke through that press.
In the 10th minute, Leicester moved their lines further up which City almost took advantage of twice, but first Sterling was stopped by Evans, and then Mahrez shot straight at Soyuncu. City’s attacks continued, and in the 14th minute Mahrez set De Bruyne up nicely for a shot from the edge of the box, with which the Belgian hit the post.
The Algeria international looked very lively on the right flank, constantly on the ball, twisting and turning, giving Chilwell and Soyuncu a lot to worry about. In the 17th minute, he completely turned Chilwell inside out on the edge of six yards and pulled it back for Jesus, who failed to take a proper shot. It was, however, a clear-cut chance.
Two minutes later, Leicester tried to hit back and they released Vardy on the right flank. He took Bernardo on and beat him, before trying but failing to find Maddison in the middle of the box. City continued pushing forward, but Leicester are always at their best with their backs against the wall, and so it proved this time too.
Minute 22 was running when Barnes released Vardy with a great pass in behind. The striker outpaced Fernandinho, came to the line of six yards and chipped the ball over Ederson, and into the net, silencing the Etihad.
0-1.
The score probably shoould have been level two minutes later as a lovely chipped ball by De Bruyne from the left found Sterling a few yards from the far post and the England winger did well to direct it on target first time, but Schmeichel stuck his foot out and made a great reflex save.
In the 28th minute, Vardy again caused some pain to City’s high defensive line as Ndidi this time found his run from the halfway line, but this time the striker went to wide to the left and missed the target from a tight angle.
But the ball was constantly being flung into Leicester’s box, and it always seemed a matter of time when something would come of it. Right on the half-hour mark, it was Mahrez again with a shot from the edge of the box, and this time it got deflected off Soyuncu’s foot and caught Schmeichel going the wrong way. Mahrez had no issues celebrating a goal against his former club.
1-1.
Probably sensing Mahrez’s tendency to make something happen, De Bruyne started drifting his way more and more at this point, and their combinations often seemed like nightmares for both Soyuncu and Chilwell. In the 37th minute, they also involved Jesus in a nicely worked move and De Bruyne eventually tried his luck, but Ndidi flung himself in the way of the shot. Two minutes later, De Bruyne found Sterling deep in the box, but the former Liverpool man couldn’t control the ball properly and lost it. Then it was Sterling’s turn to tee De Bruyne up, bu this time Schmeichel made a nice save.
In the 41st minute, Sterling entered the box and tried to get past Ricardo. He pushed the ball past the defender and went down, and referee Mike Dean gave a penalty. VAR checked and confirmed the decision, and Gundogan made no mistake from the spot.
2-1.
Leicester gave a good go at finding an equalizer in the two minutes of stoppage time and had City on the ropes for a minute, but they couldn’t make it count.
The Second Half
Leicester came into the second half with the same drive they showed at the end of the first. They got on the ball a lot more and weren’t just happy with dropping back and defending. However, they weren’t finding it easy to break through City’s lines, with Guardiola’s team adapting well to the change. With less than five minutes gone, the home side started pressing higher up again, looking to surprise the visitors, but the result wasn’t exactly what they hoped it would be with Ederson forced to run out of his box to clear in front of Vardy.
However, in the 51st minute De Bruyne managed to break down the right flanked and force a foul from Ndidi, for which the Leicester midfielder picked up a booking. They wasted the free-kick, but the Foxes were now finding it more difficult to play out the back and control the game. City achieved what they intended – they now kept the ball with ease, moved the lines towards Schmeichel’s goal and started looking dangerous again.
Leicester’s main problem seemed to be the fact that Vardy was the only player ever likely to trouble the City defence, making it easy for Fernandinho and Otamendi to focus their efforts. Perez and Barnes were practically invisible for most of the game, while Maddison was mostly surrounded by sky-blue shirts wherever he went.
In the 59th minute, City had a great chance. De Bruyne did extremely well to set up Jesus, but the Brazilian not only failed to score, but was also judged to have committed a foul. De Bruyne’s angry outburst earned him a yellow card.
Just 60 seconds later, Vardy again darted down the right flanked and squared the ball into the box for the incoming Barnes, but the youngster failed to divert it on target under pressure from Ederson and picked up an injury in the clash with the City goalkeeper. He was helped off the pitch by the medical staff and replaced by Marc Albrighton.
City’s attacks continued, one after another, and in the 66th minute Schmeichel made a spectacular save to deny Mahrez from the edge of the box. Leicester only occasionally managed to get some meaningful possession in th opposition half, and it was quite obvious that Rodgers had to react. Demarai Gray came on for Perez, but it seemed too late.
In the 69th minute, De Bruyne tore down the right flank, running in behind Chilwell and dribbling past Soyuncu, before squaring to the far post where Jesus was waiting for a tap-in.
3-1.
Leicester players were trying to respond, but City now used any means necessary to impede the pace of the game. Gundogan picked up a yellow card for a really bad tackle on Vardy, while Sterling was very lucky to avoid the same fate a few times. But Guardiola’s tactical fouling strategy worked again, and they soon had control of the game again.
De Bruyne came close to crowning another great performance with a goal in the 75th minute, but his good effort was diverted over the bar by the equally good Schmeichel. Two minutes later, Rodgers threw his last dice through Denis Praet, who replaced Tielemans. Gundogan was soon replaced by Rodri for City, apparently injured.
Mostly through relentless intensity and pure quality, helped occasionally by some ‘dark arts’, the home team brought the game completely under their control towards the end. Leicester could only hold the ball for longer spells in their own half, but even then they often lost it to City’s high press. With two minutes to go, Guardiola decided to give Phil Foden a run-out instead of Sterling.
There were four minutes of added time, but City immediately started wasting it through De Bruyne, who stayed sitting on the ground demanding to be replaced. Aguero came on.
Leicester still tried to get forward, but their attacks were mostly blunt. Even the ever-relentless Vardy wasn’t making runs anymore, and it was increasingly difficult for them to do anything of note in the opposition half, right until the referee blew the final whistle.
The Afterthought
There were two sides to this contest and its outcome. The fact that Manchester City deserved to win as the better team cannot be disputed. However, it should also be said that it took all the luck they could get to win in the end, with luck being extremely on their side for their first two goals, which, let’s face it, settled the game. Nonetheless, they made the most of that luck with a very clever approach, and Leicester will have to look for points elsewhere.
After tearing Arsenal apart last week, this was another masterclass by Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian completely dictated City’s play and was a constant source of trouble for the visitors.
As for the table, City have now come within a point of Leicester and have 38 to their name, still 11 less than Liverpool who now have a game in hand as well. It could be said that the champions have actually done a favor to their fiercest rivals with this win.
Match Report
MANCHESTER CITY: Ederson 7, Otamendi 7, Fernandinho 7, Walker 7, Mendy 7, Gundogan 7 (78′ Rodri N/A), De Bruyne 9 (90′ Aguero N/A), B. Silva 7.5, Mahrez 8, Sterling 6.5 (89′ Foden N/A), Jesus 7.
LEICESTER CITY: Schmeichel 8, Soyuncu 6.5, Evans 7, Ricardo 6.5, Chilwell 6, Ndidi 6, Tielemans 5.5 (76′ Tielemans 6), Maddison 7, Barnes 5 (64′ Albrighton 5.5), Perez 5 (68′ Gray 5.5), Vardy 7.5.
GOALS: Vardy 22′, Mahrez 30′, Gundogan (P) 43′, Jesus 69′.
YELLOW CARDS: Soyuncu 35′, Ndidi 51′, De Bruyne 59′, Gundogan 71′.
REFEREE: Mike Dean.
DATE & VENUE: December 21, 2019, Etihad Stadium, Manchester.
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