Manchester City defeated Leicester City in a high-scoring encounter at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. City raced to a four-goal lead inside the opening 25 minutes, making the fixture one-sided. The tables turned in the second half when Leicester City came firing back, scoring three quick goals in around 10 minutes.
Aymeric Laporte then put the game to bed for Man City in the 69th minute restoring a two goal lead with a header from a corner. City eventually won 6-3 on the day and imposed a six point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Let’s take a look at how each Manchester City player performed during the match against the Foxes.
GK: Ederson – 7/10
The Brazilian goalkeeper made five saves this evening as the Leicester attackers looked dangerous and racked up shots. Ederson had very little to do with the goals conceded in the second half as the City defence were all over the place.
RB: Joao Cancelo – 6.5/10
Cancelo had a tough outing keeping up with the pace of Ademola Lookman on the right flank. He tucked in and played as an inverted right-back most of the time and kept the ball well in his possession spreading out passes.
CB: Ruben Dias – 7/10
The Portuguese centre-back was a bit sloppy with the goals conceded but contributed with an assist on the other end to wrap the game up.
CB: Aymeric Laporte – 7.5/10
Laporte’s slip allowed the Foxes to get back into the game, but the Spaniard compensated for his error with a towering header to put the Citizens in control again in the second half.
LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko – 6.5/10
Zinchenko was poor with his passes and was caught out of position several times.
CM: Fernandinho – 7/10
The Brazilian assisted City’s first goal and controlled the tempo of the game. He couldn’t provide much defensive solidity but was influential to City’s build up play.
CM: Bernardo Silva – 7/10
Bernardo Silva didn’t have a productive outing this evening, but his dribbling caught the eye again. He was neat with his touches and caused massive problems to the Leicester defence with his controlled dribbling.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 7.5/10
Gundogan scored a tap-in in the 21st minute to put City 3-0 up. He dominated the middle of the park with his control and passing.
RW: Riyad Mahrez – 8.5/10
Mahrez scored a penalty and assisted the most important goal of the evening to restore City’s two goal cushion just when it seemed that Leicester might make the comeback of the season.
CAM: Kevin De Bruyne – 8/10
De Bruyne opened the scoring with a crisp finish in the 5th minute and also created three chances in the game.
LW: Raheem Sterling – 9/10
Sterling scored two goals and was a treat to watch in that left-flank. He also earned the penalty for himself, and his closed space dribbling was unplayable for the Leicester defenders.
Substitutes:
CAM: Phil Foden – 6/10
Foden came in and just kept the ball well.