Manchester City left a comfortable victory against Leicester City on Wednesday evening without ever getting second gear at the Etihad Stadium.
Jack Grialish’s first Premier League goal for 15 months and Omar Marmoush’s fifth in eight league appearances since his arrival in January made the difference, all in the first half.
City is fourth in the table, but could be driven on Tottenham Hotspur as the winner of Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday evening. Leicester has now lost seven games in a row and is 12 points that are only eight games left.
How the game unfolds
It was a dream start for City that converted the first real chance of the game within the first two minutes. Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi was caught on the ball in his own half by Jeremy Doku, who drove forward. When the piece moved to Savinho, Grialish took over the position at the penalty point and converted clinically when the Brazilian wing player’s cut.
City searched for a short second with waves of attacks that did not allow any further quick chance. Leicester threatened to compensate for the game when Bilal El Khannouss did not miss the destination outside the box, but Marmoush extended half an hour of the home team.
Instead of Erling Haaland, the signing began in January the beneficiary of a terrible goal maintenance by Mads Hermansen, who spilled a broken ball in the box, who found his way to the feet of Marmoush. He couldn’t miss it with an open goal in front of him.
At the end of the first half, Hermansen refused and refused Savinho, while Marmoush chasted third in his search for a city.
The second half started like a training exercise, with the city camping in Leicester Territory. Wout Faes released the chance for Nico O’reilly before Marmoush made a close effort over the tip of Dokus low cross.
In a Leicester shift in the middle of the second half, Ruud van Nistelrooy tried to do this because the city in the city has terrible space and joy in wide areas. Suddenly there was more pressure and greater physicality than the ball was played in the winger and full -back to the city.
But everything was a little too late by Leicester. While they were better able to curb city, the hosts were for a long time and nevertheless refused to give up more than in the possession of scrap.
Towards the end of the game there has been a first senior appearance since the Community Shield for Oscar Bobb in August after having spent the past nine months of recovering from a broken leg. In January, Vitor Reis also signed his Premier League debut as a replacement for stop times.
Take a look at the player reviews for Man City against Leicester.
City was hard work by Bournemouth for a place in the FA Cup semi-final. So this game was a welcome return to the Premier League campaign in a comfortable way.
No matter how you look at it, a home game against a side climb that stares on the face is cheap for a team like Manchester City. The result was never only in question 100 or seconds.
After the weekend Pep Guardiola mixed his pack. Due to injuries, there was no Erling Haaland when Omar Marmoush began in the “number nine” role in the Premier League for the first time after playing a little deeper or suddenly. Just a few days after the winner against Bournemouth, he continued to show why City grew up in the winter window.
Kevin de Bruyne, Mateo Kovacic and Phil Foden fell onto the bench, and Abdukhodir Khusanov could be released from the Matchday squad a rotation decision and rather injury-related.
It meant return for Savinho and Jeremy Doku, both top performers in this, and a chance for Jack Geralish, which he broke through in two minutes by breaking the Deadlock. This goal was a Premier League for the 100 million pfund -man, not only this season, but since December 2023.
The lack of defenders of the city and a yellow card for the above -mentioned Khusanov in the first half against Bournemouth led to Nico O’reilly performed by the bank in this game. It is not a position to which the attacking midfielder is used to-and he was not tested defensively because Bournemouth began to fade-but he changed the game by coming forward.
This match winning performance led to the first Premier League, and only his third overall appearance in the competition-left-back.
Matheus Nunes has been asked to fill in the opposite flank in the past few weeks and had a hard time when it comes to defending one -off talks. O’Reilly certainly benefited from a blunt Leicester who attacked the second worst in the league this season, but it will serve as a great trust for a young player who is just starting.
Leicester has now not achieved playing in seven consecutive Premier League games. But if you don’t have any attempts, it is not surprising why. There were two shots here, neither at the goal.
The Foxes recently achieved a league (two of them) during a victory against Tottenham Hotspur in January. Since then they have lost all seven games and only offered three points from the last 45.
Before Christmas there was an upper half. Fast lead until April, and the championship waves one of the points of the all-time low Premier League.