Leicester City vs Manchester City. Premier League.
The King Power StadiumAttendance31,908.
Sunday 19 November 2017 08:51, UK
Manchester City made it 10 consecutive Premier League wins as they expertly dismissed Leicester 2-0 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola's side continued their superb run in the English top flight, although they were arguably lucky to end the game with a full complement of players after a second-minute tackle from Vincent Kompany on Jamie Vardy saw him escape with just a yellow card.
Both of the goals came either side of half-time, with Gabriel Jesus (45) tapping home from a David Silva cross in the first half before a stunning strike from Kevin De Bruyne (49) sealed another three points for the visitors.
Man City are now eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table - ahead of Manchester United in second place - while Claude Puel suffered his first defeat as manager of Leicester, who stay in 12th place.
Kompany made his first Premier League start for City since the end of August but he could have been sent off just minutes into the game. As Vardy raced through on goal, the Belgian produced a crunching tackle to send the striker flying, with the home crowd instantly calling for a red card.
Referee Graham Scott only produced a yellow as Kompany got away with a moment of rustiness but the captain atoned for his mistake in the 16th minute. Riyad Mahrez was set away down the right flank by Marc Albrighton, before playing a fizzing ball into the box, but Kompany was waiting at the near post to produce a strong block and send the ball behind the goal.
The visitors started to find their attacking feet as the half wore on, with Kasper Schmeichel making a great fingertip save in the 21st minute to deny Silva, before an inviting cross through the box from Leroy Sane just evaded the foot of Raheem Sterling at the back post not long after.
They did eventually make the breakthrough on the stroke of half-time with a superbly worked goal. After a one-two with De Bruyne, Sterling slotted the ball to Silva down the left of the box, who in turn squared it to Jesus at the back post. The striker, who was unmarked, made no mistake in slotting home.
The second half started at a pace, with Leicester having two great chances just a minute after the restart. Vardy's effort was punched away by Ederson before Harry Maguire's shot could only find the post, but the rebound allowed Man City to break.
It was one that paid off for them too as they burst down the field, with Fernandinho setting off De Bruyne, who in turn picked out Sane down the left-hand side. He then called for the ball back having made his way to the top of the box - which the Germany international obliged - and allowed De Bruyne to curl home an exquisite shot which powered into the top corner.
After chances from Jesus and Silva were saved, Leicester gave City a scare in the 67th minute as Vardy chipped the ball over the on-rushing Ederson but a gut-busting run from Kyle Walker saw him clear it off the line, although the offside flag was already raised. The rest of the half passed without much incident as City continued to assert their authority at the top.
Claude Puel: "The result is hard of course, it is not good to lose a game but I think there were different events in this game. Yes of course [the game was defined by small margins] because there are so many events in this game. The first move for us and the foul from Vincent Kompany, I think it's a red. This action can change the feel of the game."
Pep Guardiola: "The goals were outstanding, they were scored collectively rather than individually. It was three points more and we keep going with our 18 unbeaten in a row in all competitions and a clean sheet. We could have scored more goals.
"The way we played, we continued in much the same way and it's three more points so now, we rest, we start thinking about Feyenoord and Huddersfield and go game by game."
After winning the Premier League Player of the Month for October award this week, Sane followed it up with another superb performance at the King Power Stadium. He was stuck to the left flank like glue and caused plenty of problems for Leicester, especially in the first half when the game was there for the taking.
Most of City's attacking play went through him at one point or another, and he came away with an assist for De Bruyne's stunning goal, who certainly runs Sane very close for the man-of-the-match plaudits.
Leicester are next in Premier League action live on Sky Sports when they travel to West Ham on Friday Night Football on 24 November. City will next play in the Champions League on Tuesday as they host Feyenoord before travelling to Huddersfield in the Premier League on November 26.
