The Foxes more than played their part on the night and could have one, two or possibly three penalties on another evening, but goals from David Silva and James Milner were the only statistic that actually counted in what was a scrappy 2-0 victory for the Blues.
Defeats to Barca and Liverpool had taken the wind out of the champions’ sails, but the foundation of the previous title successes in the past three years has been a refusal to give in, no matter what.
The truth is, the Blues have been in stickier situations than this and still come out smelling of roses so the absolute minimum required from games such as these is three points.
Manuel Pellegrini made five changes from the side beaten at Anfield with Bacary Sagna, Fernando, Martin Demichelis, Jesus Navas and Wilfried Bony all starting
...City 2 Foxes 0...
Bony went close to marking his full debut with a goal after just three minutes, but his header was stopped on the line by Mark Schwarzer – but that was as close as the Blues came in the first 20 minutes as the Foxes worked their way back into the game.
The visitors had every right to feel aggrieved just past the midway point of the first-period when two penalty claims were turned down by the referee within a couple of minutes – and TV replays suggested they were unfortunate on both occasions.
The first appeal was when Bony’s clumsy challenge felled Danny Schlupp in the box and the second was when Joe Hart appeared to catch Andrej Kramanc as he attempted to go round him, though the latter was the more ambiguous of the two. No matter – the officials were interested in neither.
The Blues livened up thereafter with Bony going close from Jesus Navas’ cross and the Navas forced a good save from Schwarzer with a smart shot from 18 yards.
Then Silva picked out Bony’s run into the box but the Ivorian sliced his shot wide with just the keeper to beat, but just as Leicester appeared to have weathered the storm, City finally broke the deadlock
...City 2 Foxes 0..
Aleks Kolarov whipped in a low cross that Bony connected with before the ball fell kindly for Silva whose first shot was blocked but he made no mistake with the rebound as he tucked home his tenth of the campaign from three yards out.
There was barely time to re-start the game and at last the champions had a grip on the game.
Bony should have doubled City’s advantage three minutes into the second-half but he snatched at Navas’ cross and shot well wide from close range – then Leicester had yet another penalty appeal denied as Kramanc was fouled just inside the box by Fernando – but the ref saw it as on the edge of the box and the Blues breathed again.
With only a narrow advantage and gaps appearing at the back, City again rode their luck as Riyad Mahrez fizzed a low shot past Hart but onto the inside of the post on 75 minutes – and the champions were relieved when David Nugent somehow shot over from two yards out, though he was flagged offside.
A second goal was needed to calm the nerves and on 87 minutes, Milner sealed the points as he poked home a Navas cross from close range with his sixth of the campaign.
That was that – job done and even though it was hardly vintage stuff, it was exactly what was needed.
