Manchester City continued to steamroll their way towards another Premier League title with a compelling 2-0 win against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. The scoreline actually flattered the Foxes as they were well and truly outplayed, especially in the second-half where they struggled to get a touch on the ball.
We take a look at the five things we learned from another mesmerising Man City display.
Vincent Kompany should have seen red
In the second minute of the match, Vicente Iborra fed an inch-perfect through to Jamie Vardy, one that would have created a clear goalscoring opportunity, if it wasn’t for Vincent Kompany’s intervention. The Belgian centre-back scythed down Vardy and was extremely fortunate to see Graham Scott pull out the yellow card instead of the red one. With less than two minutes on the clock, it would have (and should have) completely changed the outcome of the match. Man City would have been reduced to 10 men without their captain, and there is no doubt that Leicester’s mercurial attack would have exploited that weakness.
Kevin De Bruyne is one of the best in the world
At the moment, Kevin De Bruyne is considered by many as the world’s best midfielder, and his performance against the Foxes couldn’t have supported that anymore. Kasper Schmeichel was extremely unlucky to be on the receiving end of a strike that no other goalkeeper in the world would have saved. This was the icing on the cake of a sensational showing from the Belgium international as he continued to orchestrate attack after attack for the Citizens.
Claude Puel loves to attack
After being slated for a defensive approach during his time at Southampton, Claude Puel is certainly showing no sign of this at the King Power Stadium. As many teams would set up defensively against a devastatingly fast Man City frontline, the French boss decided to include Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Demarai Gray and Marc Albrighton in the same starting XI. When his side were 2-0 down, Puel had Vardy, Gray, Kelechi Iheanacho, Shinji Okazaki and Islam Slimani on the pitch in a whole host of positions. Despite the onslaught that Foxes fans were dreading at that stage, they didn’t concede any more goals.
Man City’s counter-attacking football is unbelievable
The goal that doubled Man City’s lead just under four minutes after half-time was a brilliant example of their devastating counter-attacking capabilities. Just 21 seconds after Harry Maguire saw his shot deflected onto Ederson’s post; De Bruyne was planting a left-footed piledriver into Leicester’s top corner. This knocked the stuffing out of the Foxes hopes of getting back into the match and made it much easier for Pep Guardiola’s side to cruise to victory.
Man City could go unbeaten
The only side to ever go a whole Premier League season undefeated was Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side in the 2003/04 campaign, but this Man City side might challenge them. Despite losing John Stones to injury early in the first-half, the introduction of Eliaquim Mangala, which would have worried Citizens fans, actually sured up the defensive line. The defence at the Etihad has come under a lot of fire in the past few seasons and even with Fabian Delph at left-back, they didn’t look like conceding a goal at any point. They couldn’t be any stronger in the final third, and even if they do start to concede goals, their wealth of attacking options look like they could outscore any top-flight opponents.
