City back to winning ways with hard-fought win over Leicester

Savinho put the Blues on the way with a goal on 21 minutes, and though the Foxes came close on several occasions, Erling Haaland sealed our first win in six matches with a powerful header on 74 minutes.

It was the perfect way to end 2024 and a victory will give City a huge boost after a difficult last few months.

What happened...

With just one change from the team that started against Everton, City started confidently against Leicester.

There was a verve and zip to our passing in those opening minutes and it could have resulted in a goal after just seven minutes as Rico Lewis found Kevin De Bruyne on the right and his pinpoint cross into the box found Haaland who saw his low shot saved by Jakub Stolarczyk.

A foot either side of the Foxes’ stopper and it would have almost certainly been a goal.

There was a fright three minutes later as Jamie Vardy burst clear and appeared to be pulled down by Stefan Ortega Moreno – thankfully, the assistant referee’s flag was raised and none of it mattered.

Though the Blues had largely been in control, on 19 minutes the home side came close again as Josko Gvardiol’s headed back pass was intercepted by Vardy who saw his angled shot saved by Ortega Moreno.

City hit back immediately with a move that will have delighted Pep Guardiola – and resulted in the opening goal of the game.

It was a thing of beauty, too, as a rapid interchange of passes between De Bruyne, Lewis and Phil Foden resulted in the latter firing a low shot from 25 yards out.

Stolarczyk saved it, but could only push the ball to the left and Savinho reacted first, racing in to plant a shot hit into the top right corner for his first goal for the club.

City continued to boss proceedings, but there was a reminder again of the threat Leicester posed on 31 minutes when Bilal El Khannouss sent a temping cross into the box and Facundo Buonanotte was inches away from levelling the scores.

The Blues again responded to that near miss positively as Haaland picked up the ball outside the box, drove past four challenges into the box before striking a low shot a foot the wrong side of the post.

And in keeping with the ebb and flow of the game, Leicester came close again just three minutes later as a period of head tennis ended with Buonanotte striking the post.

From the resulting clearance, a powerful run for Haaland saw the Norwegian find Foden who attempted to return the favour but the home side managed to clear their lines.

It was end-to-end stuff again after the break with chances at either end.

Manu Akanji cleared off the line on 62 minutes as the home side came close again and there was a feeling that Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men were starting to build up a head of steam.

Indeed, on 68 minutes, Vardy could and should have levelled for the home side as Stephy Mavididi’s superb cross found the Foxes legend but his decision to  try and guide a volley home rather than head the ball resulted in a looping effort that went over.

City would punish Leicester for that miss in devastating fashion.

Sub James McAtee produced a delightful piece of skill on the right flank to start a counter-attack that saw De Bruyne find Savinho and the Brazilian’s cross was powerfully headed home by Haaland.

The relief was palpable and the celebrations ecstatic both on and off the pitch.

There were half-chances for both sides in the time that remained, but the second goal knocked the stuffing out of the hosts and the Blues ran out worthy winners with a good, solid performance at the King Power - and the perfect way to mark Guardiola‘s 500th game in charge of the Club.

What it means...

City move up to fifth in the Premier League - though that is likely to change by the end of the weekend with other teams in action around us.

The triumph ends a run of eight away games without a win, and ends a run of five matches without victory for the Blues.

City are next in action on Saturday, 4 January against West Ham United.

The Premier League clash at the Etihad kicks off at 15:00 (UK).

There will then be a week’s break before we host Salford City in the FA Cup third round, with the kick-off 17:45 on Saturday 11 January.

Line-ups...

LEICESTER XI: Stolarczyk, Justin (Choudhury 70), Vestergaard, Coady (Okoli 85), Kristiansen, Winks (Daka 85), Soumare, Mavididi (Alves 90) , Buonanotte, El Khannouss, Vardy

Subs: Thomas, Skipp, Wilson-Brown, De Cordova-Reid, Iversen

CITY XI: Ortega, Lewis, Akanji, Ake (Walker 70), Gvardiol, Kovacic, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Savinho, Foden (McAtee 66), Haaland

Subs: Grealish, Doku, Gundogan, Simpson-Pusey, Mubama, O’Reilly, Carson

Player of the Match: Savinho

A wonderful display by the young Brazil winger who has so much promise.

To score his first goal will have done him the world of good and his movement and industry were a constant threat to the Leicester defence.

His assist for Haaland capped his best display yet for City, with much more to come.

McAtee cameo just the tonic...

James McAtee is fondly spoken of by Pep Guardiola, but his chances have been somewhat limited this season.

Given the opportunity to shine against Leicester, the 22-year-old winger grasped it with both hands.

At a crucial stage of the second-half,  McAtee produced a superb piece of trickery on the right wing that resulted with our second goal of the game as De Bruyne, Savinho and Haaland combined to all-but secure three points.

McAtee will hope for further minutes in the coming weeks and on this display, he may well get them.

Pep reaction

“I think [relief] that’s the right word to use, more than happiness, it’s the relief. 

“[On the] performance side, it wasn’t the best, I couldn’t expect different. Leicester were better in the last 10-15 of the first half, in the 15-20 minutes of the second half the game was tight in many things. 

“But today the coin came, we had to improve a lot but of course we will improve and with the results we will, that’s for sure.

“We will see we are better and winning games sometimes we’ve been able to do every three days for many years, the best of us will come back, that’s for sure and this result will help us a lot.”

Haaland reaction

“It’s always a relief when you score. It was an important goal to go two goals up. Leicester did a really good game and they’ve been playing really well under the new coach.

“We knew it would be difficult. Every game is difficult. It’s about getting the game to turn towards your favour.

“Can we build on this? Yeah of course. It’s been a difficult time. Now it’s about New Year so don’t think too much about football. It’s five or six days until the next game.

“I think it’s the longest time in a pretty long period so now we can rest a little bit and then we go again against West Ham”