Man City survive three-goal Leicester comeback in high-scoring thriller

City were simply unplayable for the opening 24 minutes, by which stage Guardiola’s team was 4-0 to the good

Sun, 26 Dec, 2021 - 17:00

Ian Whittell

Premier League: Man City 6 Leicester 3

Pep Guardiola saw his Manchester City team move six points clear at the top of the Premier League in the highest-scoring St Stephen's Day game in top-flight football for 30 years.

The Manchester City manager may wish to see the fixture list eased at present, given the congestion and Covid problems, but these two teams still served up one of the games of the season.

Raheem Sterling wrapped up the win when he swept in Ruben Dias’ knock-down from an 88th minute corner, but the England striker’s second goal of the day was only a small part of the story.

City were simply unplayable for the opening 24 minutes, by which stage Guardiola’s team was 4-0 to the good.

The first goal was the pick of the bunch as Fernandinho lofted a high ball into the area which Kevin de Bruyne controlled with one touch.

The Belgian spun and, with Leicester’s defence inexplicably backing off, De Bruyne buried a perfect finish into the corner.

Nine minutes later, Youri Tielemans conceded the first of two penalties he would give away in the first half, wrestling Aymeric Laporte to the ground and being caught out by VAR.

Former Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez buried an unstoppable finish into the top right corner, despite Kasper Schmeichel diving the correct way.

After 21 minutes, the Leicester keeper was at fault for City’s third as he palmed a cross from Joao Cancelo into his six-yard area and Ilkay Gundogan tapped in the rebound.

And an astonishing start was completed three minutes later when Tielemans made an awful challenge and tripped Raheem Sterling.

The England forward took over penalty duties from Mahrez and scored with a finish into the same spot Mahrez had chosen.

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers was forced into naming a side severely weakened by injuries and the results were predictable.

James Maddison almost offered him an unlikely lifeline, with the score only 2-0, when he delivered a brilliant 20-yard free-kick which Ederson only kept out with a magnificent save onto his crossbar.

But after the break, Maddison was instrumental in a brilliant spell from the visitors which saw them score three times in 10 minutes.

Maddison struck after 55 minutes when a slip by Laporte allowed the Foxes to break and Kelechi Iheanacho to square for his unmarked team mate to finish.

Four minutes later, Maddison launched another counter-attack which ended with Iheanacho finding Ademola Lookman who had the poise to beat Ederson.

And the deficit was down to a single goal with 25 minutes still to play when a superb Maddison strike was turned onto the bar by Ederson and Iheanacho was on hand to convert the rebound into an open net.

City were unusually under pressure but did not have long to wait to score their fifth of the game as Laporte rose well to head in accurately from a Mahrez corner.

Man City (4-3-3): Ederson 7; Cancelo 6, Dias 6, Laporte 7, Zinchenko 5; De Bruyne 8 (Foden 71, 6), Fernandinho 6, Gundogan 6; Mahrez 7, Silva 7, Sterling 7.

Leicester (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel 6; Albrighton 6, Amartey 6, Vestergaard 5, Thomas 5; Tielemans 4 (Choudhury 71, 6), Dewsbury-Hall 7; Perez 5 (Castagne 45, 7), Maddison 9, Lookman 7; Iheanacho 8.

Referee: C Kavanagh 6.