EPL: 9-Goal Thriller At Etihad As City Thump Leicester

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It was a rain of goals at the Etihad stadium as Manchester City resurrected from almost throwing away a four-goal lead to defeat Leicester City 6-3 on boxing day, knocking the Foxes really hard.

Goals Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, Aymeric Laporte Ilkay Gundogan and a brace from Raheem Sterling ensured that City maintained their lead at the summit despite a fightback from Leicester with goals from James Maddison, Ademola Lookman and Kelechi Iheanacho.

There were just two changes in the Manchester City side that defeated Newcastle in their last game, while Brendan Rodgers made six changes to his team that lost to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. Jamie Vardy, who was initially a doubt for the game from the bench and in his place was Kelechi Iheanacho, with Patson Daka unavailable.

Five minutes was all that was needed by City to get into their strides as Kevin De Bruyne fired them into the lead. A lobbed pass from Fernandinho into the Leicester box was not dealt with by Jannic Vestergard, allowing De Bruyne to collect and curl his effort into the bottom left corner.

VAR was called into action nine minutes later after Youri Tielemans was seen to have pulled down Laporte in the build up to a corner kick. Referee Chris Kavanagh gave the kick after initially waving it off. Kasper Schmeichel was never going to stop Riyad Mahrez's shot into the top right corner.

Leicester were unable to beat Ederson Moraes as he produced two fine saves to deny first, James Maddison from a free kick and then Ayoze Perez with a low diving save.

City added two quickfire goals to make it four in the first quarter of an hour of the game. De Bruyne and Silva had combined well to release Joao Cancelo and the Portuguese's powerful cross into the box was parried by the hand of Schmeichel, but only as far as Ilkay Gundogan, who was on hand to tap home.

Tielemans would then concede another penalty as he brought down Raheem Sterling with a clumsy challenge. The referee didn't need a VAR review to give this. Sterling stepped up and followed in the footstep of Mahrez to send the ball into the top right corner. That's how you take penalties.

The second half took a different turn as the Foxes scored three goals in 10 second half minutes. Maddison converted a low curling effort from an Iheanacho pass, before the Nigerian completed his brace of assists with a defence-splitting pass to release Ademola Lookman, who coolly slotted into the bottom corner.

Iheanacho would then get himself a goal against his former club after Ederson parried Maddison's long range effort onto the crossbar. The rebound fell to a grateful Iheanacho, who poked home to reduce the deficit to one and set the tune for a comeback.

The hopes of any comeback was dented with City's fifth as a well-driven in-swinging corner from the right was met by Laporte in the 69th minute.

The Foxes could have responded immediately with Iheanacho, who was played in by Maddison from a free kick, but his effort was saved by the body of Ederson, who rushed out to prevent any more danger.

The win was capped with three minutes of regular duration to play through Sterling. Another corner from Mahrez was met by a header from Ruben Dias, but his header was miscued and rather turned to an assist as Sterling tucked home from close range.

Concluding Thoughts

Another resounding victory by Manchester City to establish their supremacy and grip at the top. Scoring early has always been a part of their game. They demonstrated their hunger for goals with the four goals in the first 25 minutes and were still hungry for more nonetheless.

As I have said in previous weeks, only City can stop themselves this season from retaining the title. Liverpool is the only team that can come close, but the dexterity of the City side would always give them an edge.

What else can I say about Leicester City and their season that has continue to go from bad to worse. One would have thought they would build on last season's success, especially with winning the FA Cup to project themselves higher up this season, but it doesn't seem so.

They look like a shadow of their last season self and have a herculean task of making Europe next season. No trophies guaranteed again as they're already out of the Carabao Cup and Europa League. The possibility of retaining the FA Cup is also very slim if they continue in this trajectory.

I think I also want to question Rodgers' continuous exclusion of Iheanacho from the team after the Nigerian proved vital in their successful campaign last season. Patson Daka has been impressive, nonetheless, I feel Iheanacho should get more time under his belt. He needs to find a balance in playing his three forwards.



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12 comments
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It is a great win from manchester city. Definitely the candidate for the league winner

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Watching that match was so intense, there was never a dull moment.

At one point I thought Leicester was going to equalize and it would end in a draw.

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Oh dear. Had Leicester gotten that fourth goal, it'd had been a power surge in their veins.

Again, it's the stuff that City are made of. The momentum had swung against them at that period, but they found a way to redirect it in their favour and scored two more. Champions stuff.

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They can already give them the trophy because clearly they are winning.

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What a crazy match to whitness! I remember switching the channel while City were 4-0 up thinking it was over only to return to 4-3. I had to rewatch the second half again.

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Lol... I was just trying to settle to see the scoreline across centres when I saw 4-0 under 30 minutes. I had to re-check to be sure it was a live match 😂

I couldn't have imagine that Leicester would score three though. I was looking at a whitewash.

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What a game! I was hoping Leicester would mount a come back when the game went to 4-3 only for City to up the gear and get a further 2. It was a wonderful game from both teams even though City finished the job at half time.

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Absolutely. That's one thing about City, the more goals they score, the hungrier they get.

I didn't see Leicester coming back anyway, although their quick three goals gave an inch of hope.

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Absolutely... They are ruthless and with Liverpool losing against Leicester City, City won't stop to extend their lead.

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