For several months, nothing has been going well at Manchester City. Orphans of the 2024 Ballon d’Or Rodri, injured for the rest of the season, the Skyblues went through a period of unprecedented crisis under the Pep Guardiola era. Winning only one of their last thirteen matches, the English champions had been harshly criticized for months and had to put an end to the bleeding this Sunday on the Leicester lawn. To do this, Guardiola decided to align his typical team despite several individuals experiencing a crisis of confidence. A choice which paid off as the visitors dominated the proceedings in the first half.
Leicester
0
Man City
2
21′
Savinho
74′
E. Haaland
finished
From the 7th minute, Erling Haaland could, after a superb action, have opened the scoring without a huge save from Jakub Stolarczyk on his line (7th). Despite numerous defensive flaws that the Foxes failed to exploit, the Skyblues were enterprising and their ideas gave rise to a fairly deserved opening of the score in their favor. On the lookout after a powerful strike from Phil Foden poorly repelled by Stolarczyk, Savinho unlocked his counter with City with a powerful strike from the left (0-1, 21st). And despite a dangerous header from Facundo Buonanotte which ended in a post (39th), the visitors returned to the locker room with a fairly logical score advantage.
Erling Haaland finally scores!
Returning from the locker room, the pressure put by the Foxes on City’s defense intensified. However, despite several opportunities (52nd, 62nd, 68th), Jamie Vardy’s teammates were unable to come back to score. And the latter even conceded a second goal because of Erling Haaland. Mute since December 7, the Norwegian cyborg found the net following a superb action initiated by James McAtee. The young Mancunian prodigy eliminated two players near the touchline before serving Kevin De Bruyne in the center. The Belgian then served Savinho on the left side and the Brazilian sent a precise cross towards Haaland who was quick to score his 14th goal of the season in the Premier League with a well-aimed header (0-2, 74th).
With this second goal, Manchester City had clearly taken cover and nothing could disrupt their beautiful afternoon. Despite a final last stand from the locals, City held on and achieved their first Premier League success since December 4. With this welcome victory, the Mancunian club moves back to fifth place and puts itself back in the race for the Champions League. Is this the end of the crisis though? The answer is probably no, but it is an important step in the right direction. We will have to capitalize on this victory next Saturday against West Ham (4 p.m.). For its part, Leicester will not have been unworthy but will not have been able to avoid defeat against a too strong opponent this Sunday. The promoted class sinks to 18th place.
