City close gap on Gunners with tenth successive win

The Blues swept the struggling Foxes aside in a blistering opening 24 minutes that saw John Stones score and Erling Haaland take his tally for the season to 47 with two more goals.

It looked as though there might be an avalanche of goals thereafter, but the visitors dug in and with both teams making numerous substitutions, the pattern of the game became somewhat disjointed.

Leicester’s Kelechi Iheanacho pulled one back late on and also saw a shot strike the inside of the post, but it was too little, too late.

What happened?

It was the perfect start for City.

Leicester had been pinned back in their own final third almost from kick-off and when a corner was half-cleared, the ball fell to John Stones on the edge of the box and his pinpoint left-foot half volley found the top right-hand corner of the net to put the Blues 1-0 up.

And it wasn’t long before the City fans were cheering again.

Jack Grealish was convinced he’d been fouled on the corner of the box, but referee Darren England waved the appeal away.

Moments later, Grealish skipped past a challenge on the left before clipping the ball towards the six-yard box where it struck the raised hand of Wilfred Ndidi and, after a pitch-side VAR check by the referee, a spot-kick was awarded.

Erling Haaland made no mistake for goal No.46 of a scintillating season.

And our record-breaking Norwegian was soon celebrating goal No.47 as Kevin De Bruyne drove forward before threading a pass into Haaland’s feet and he did the rest, clipping the ball over Daniel Iversen to make it 3-0 on 24 minutes.

The only surprise was there were no more goals in the time that remained, with the Blues going into the break three goals to the good.

With Bayern Munich in mind, Guardiola took Haaland and Stones off during the interval, replacing the pair with Julian Alvarez and Manuel Akanji.

There was surprisingly little to report after the break, other than Riyad Mahrez coming close on the hour-mark with a curling shot from 20 yards that Iversen did well to tip over.

It seemed the game had been won in that first 24 minutes and with no need for over-exertion, the City fans made their own entertainment as they went through their repertoire of songs and even threw in a Poznan for good measure.

Then, on 75 minutes, a Leicester corner saw Harry Souttar’s header palmed out by Ederson who then collided with Kalvin Phillips and Kelechi Iheanacho tapped home to make it 3-1.

The goal gave the visitors an injection of energy for the last 15 minutes or so and five minutes from time, James Maddison found himself clean through on goal, but his low shot was pushed around by Ederson.

Had that gone in, it might have been a very nervy end in a game that had looked done and dusted long before.

There was still time for Iheanacho to strike the foot of the post in added time, but the visitors couldn’t prevent the Blues racking up a 10th successive victory.

Mr Incredible

Finding new ways to praise Erling Haaland’s exploits is becoming impossible.

Another two goals against Leicester takes the Norwegian to 47 for the season so far – numbers that defy belief.

Haaland is a phenomenon – a natural and instinctive goal-machine who is rewriting history almost on a game-by-game basis – and it is both a privilege and a pleasure to watch him do what he’s doing the colours of Manchester City.

A Perfect 10 - but plenty more needed!

City’s superb form continued against the Foxes - our 10th win in succession in all competitions.

But at this - the ‘business end’ of the campaign - there can be no let up.

City need to keep winning games in order to catch the leaders - or at least pile on the pressure - and that won’t be easy.

The Blues have, at some stage over the past five years or so, regularly embarked on long, season-changing winning runs, and it remains to be seen if this one has been timed perfectly.

On Grand National day, it was fitting that the leader is being chased down by one of the bookies’ pre-race favourites.

Whatever happens, it looks like being a thrilling sprint to the finish line.

What it means…

City move to within three points of leaders Arsenal, with both teams having played 30 games.

The Blues’ goal difference has improved by another two after this victory and is seven better than the Gunners’.

Mikel Arteta’s side take on West Ham United at the London Stadium at 14:00 (UK) on Sunday.

What’s next?

City travel to Germany to take on Bayern Munich in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final.

The Blues take a 3-0 lead to the Allianz Arena and the winners will face either Real Madrid or Chelsea in the semi-final.

Then it’s off to Wembley next Saturday where City take on Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi-final – kick-off 16:45 (UK) – and tickets are available for the showpiece tie.

The winners of that game will meet either Brighton or Manchester United in the final on 3 June at Wembley.

CITY v SHEFFIELD UNITED: BUY TICKETS

WATCH: City 3-1 Leicester City: Extended highlights

Star Man

Erling Haaland edges the honours after another two-goal salvo.

Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Bernardo, Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker were also candidates.

Guardiola reaction

“In general we played really good, especially after a Champions League game and with another UCL game next week.

“We started really, really well. Often after a game like Bayern, there is rotation but in my experience in previous seasons, if you rotate a lot of the team, the levels drop a lot, so we made two or three changes on this occasion.

“We started really well, but after we conceded, we struggled a lot - always when there is a lot of substitutions at the same time we struggle, so we have to do it better because if Leicester scored another goal, I don’t know what might have happened.

“Football is unpredictable. But the way we played in general, I am really satisfied.”

Team Notes

City: Ederson, Walker, Stones (Akanji 46), Dias, Laporte, Rodrigo (Phillips 52), De Bruyne (Palmer 62) Bernardo, Mahrez, Grealish (Gomez 73), Haaland (Alvarez 46)

Unused subs: Ortega Moreno, Ake, Gundogan, Lewis

Leicester: Iversen, Castagne, Souttar, Faes, Soyuncu, Kristiansen (Thomas 46), Ndidi, Tielemans (Mendy 62), Dewsbury-Hal (Praet 62), Maddison, Vardy (Iheanacho 46)

Unused subs: Ward, Amarty, Marcal-Madivadua, Daka, Tete

Stats and milestones

• City have won 11 of the last 13 Premier League games against Leicester City (L2), winning the last five in a row since a 5-2 home defeat in September 2020.
• Leicester won four of their first five Premier League visits to Man City (L1) but have since lost six of their last seven games at the Etihad (W1).
• Since losing 1-0 at Spurs in February, City have won eight of our last nine Premier League games (D1), including each of the last six in succession.
• Erling Haaland has scored 32 Premier League goals for Manchester City this season, with only Andrew Cole ever netting more in their debut season in the competition (34 in 1993-94).
• Kevin De Bruyne has assisted eight goals for Erling Haaland in the Premier League this season, the most by one Man City player for another in a single campaign.