Premier League icon Alan Shearer hailed Pep Guardiola's tactics following Manchester City's 3-1 victory over Leicester City in Saturday's top of the table clash.
City began the game four points behind the Foxes and 14 behind leaders Liverpool, knowing that anything less than a victory would have handed the Reds the opportunity to extend their lead.
However, Guardiola's side laid down a marker at the start of a busy festive season by sweeping aside Leicester at the Etihad Stadium, fighting back from behind after Jamie Vardy opened the scoring.
Riyad Mahrez starred against his former employers, with Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings in midfield, and Shearer praised Guardiola's tactics for getting the best out of the pair.
“Man City were absolutely fantastic in terms of their reaction to going 1-0 down and the confidence they brought into this game from last weekend’s performance when they battered Arsenal. It was so clever in what Pep did and what Kevin De Bruyne did today," he told Match of the Day.
“Their intelligence was superb because De Bruyne created space for Mahrez. Chilwell has to be tight to his centre-half, which he is, and you can see De Bruyne pointing to pass to Mahrez. That switch of play was on the vast majority of the time because of De Bruyne’s positioning, trying to get into the pockets and making it very difficult for Chilwell.
“Mahrez caused chaos all afternoon, he gave Chilwell a nightmare. You can’t get out to him because of De Bruyne’s positioning. His performance and Man City deserved the win. Everything that City did revolved around Mahrez and De Bruyne.”
City are now preparing for a trip to Wolves on Friday, before tackling Sheffield United at the Etihad Stadium less than 24 hours later and then hosting Everton on New Year's Day.
