Manchester City 5-1 Leicester City: Match Report

Manchester City wasted no time in return to winning ways in the Premier League and continued their march to the title thanks to a 5-1 win over Leicester City at the Etihad. The Blues were dominant for most of the match and Sergio Agüero scored all the goals to secure a very important win, both for the league table and the team’s confidence going into a big Champions League game next week.

FIRST HALF

City made a phenomenal start to the game thanks to a beautiful cross from Kevin De Bruyne that found Raheem Sterling alone in front of goal, and we didn’t get another Burnley moment this time. The Blues were ahead after just three minutes, and they established dominance for most of the half with good possession work and a few dangerous chances.

But Leicester have Jamie Vardy, and all he needs is one chance to run at a defense. He got it due to a poor mistake from Otamendi, and Vardy fired home the equalizer despite Aymeric Laporte’s best efforts to stop the shot. The Foxes grew into the game a lot more after scoring and City took a while to get control again, but they were able to create a few good chances and Kasper Schmeichel made some good interventions.

At halftime, a good performance from the Blues was punished by the one mistake they made all half, and they needed to find a winner in the second half.

SECOND HALF

Different half, same story: after just two minutes Kevin De Bruyne made a brilliant pass across the box that gave Sergio Agüero a tap-in to put City ahead. But this time the hosts would not allow Leicester to make a comeback, and Agüero scored again just five minutes later to make it 3-1 and stamp City’s authority on the match.

Leicester tried to go forward looking for a goal to get back in the match, but City’s defense did a very good job of holding on to their lead. They also got to increase it thanks to a bad pass from Schmeichel that went straight to Agüero, and the Argentine striker simply chipped the keeper to make it 4-1 and kill the game. Agüero would score again with a sensational strike from distance, giving him a four-goal night.

With the game more than over, Pep Guardiola was able to make substitutions to rest some key players for Basel and simply run out the clock. This is a fantastic win for City in a lot of different ways, and it’s a big relief to not have Manchester United cut the deficit for a second straight week. The title is closer and closer, everyone...

Man City: Ederson; Walker, Otamendi (Stones), Laporte, Zinchenko (Danilo); De Bruyne, Fernandinho (Foden), Gundogan; Bernardo, Agüero, Sterling

Goals: Sterling (3’), Agüero (48’, 53’, 77’, 90’)

Leicester: Schmeichel; Albrighton, Dragovic, Maguire, Fuchs, Chilwell (Iheanacho); Silva (Simpson), Ndidi, James; Diabaté (Mahrez), Vardy

Goal: Vardy (24’)