Barney Ronay on Sergio Agüero
Match report: Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City
Paul Doyle was at the King Power Stadium to see Manchester City swat their hosts aside with a minimum of fuss.
Brendan Rodgers speaks ...
“For large parts of the first half we defended well,” he tells Sky Sports. “We had tiredness in our game. Technically we weren’t as good as we normally are. We are disappointed with the goals because they came when we were starting to chase the game.
“Apart from that we had some chances but the best team has won the game. We have no excuses. We didn’t show the quality we have got but that comes with a bit of tiredness sometimes. Our organisation was good but we didn’t get through the pitch well at times.”
Arsenal host Liverpool in the final Premier League match of a long day and you can follow the action from the Emirates with Scott Murray.
Kevin De Bruyne speaks ...
“I thought that was really good today,” he tells Sky Sports. “The first half we totally dominated apart from that offside chance from Vardy. But basically there was only one team playing. Second half they did a little bit better but if you look at the 90 minutes it was 2-0 but I think we deserved even more goals. After an international break, I think that’s really well done from the team.”
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Full time: Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeep! Anthony Taylor draws proceedings to a close at the King Power Stadium, where Manchester City have chalked up a fairly routine win. Benjamin Mendy and Gabriel Jesus got the goals, but Kevin De Bruyne was unquestionably the man of the match as City stretched their lead at the top of the table to 17 points.
90+2 min: It’s all very scrappy in the knockings as Manchester City win a series of free-kicks and the clock ticks down.
90+1 min: Manchester City substitution: Kevin De Bruyne off, Phil Foden on.
90 min: Rodri is booked for something or other. Free-kick for Leicester about 30 yards from the Manchester City goal. Nothing comes of it.
87 min: Daniel Amartey is booked for cuffing Kevin De Bruyne around the back of the head as the pair tussled for the ball. The ball, in fact had long gone from the scene of the crime when Amartey struck him and De Bruyne drops to the ground dramatically, holding the back of his head. It’s a complete over-reaction and the Belgian demands a red card for Amartey. Referee Anthony Taylor sticks with his original yellow. A poor show from Kevin, you’d have to say.
86 min: James Maddison scuffs a shot straight at Ederson from 12 yards out after the ball dropped kindly for him. He’s had an eventful time of it since his introduction and should have done a lot better there.
85 min: Now Kyle Walker is booked for a crunching tackle on Maddison.
84 min: Leicester substitution: Papy Mendy on for Wilfried Ndidi.
83 min: Maddison curls a shot from the edge of the Manchester City penalty area over the bar.
81 min: We’re into the final 10 minutes and apart from a reasonably bright spell in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, Leicester have barely laid a glove on their visitors. Fernadinho does lay out James Maddison with a late challenge which earns him a yellow card and a talking-to from the substitute.
79 min: Manchester City substitution: Mahrez off, Ferran Torres on.
78 min: Jonny Evans is caught dawdling on the ball by Jesus outside his own penalty area. It’s not a clean steal and the ball breaks to De Bruyne, who sends Mahrez in behind with another beautifully weighted pass. He rolls his low diagonal effort wide of the far post.
77 min: That wieghted pass along the deck from Kevin De Bruyne through the centre , tantalisingly out of reach of two stretching Leciester defenders, to Sterling was sublime. Sterling tried to create room for a shot in the penalty area, but ended up squaring the ball for Jesus, whose task couldn’t have been simpler.
GOAL! Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City (Jesus 74)
Manchester City double their lead. Gabriel Jesus stabs home from close range after having the ball squared to him by Raheem Sterling, but that goal was all about an inch-perfect Kevin De Bruyne pass through the middle to begin the move.
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72 min: Leicester double-substitution: Ricardo and James Maddison on for Marc Albrighton and Kelechi Iheanacho. I thought it would be Ayoze Perez who would make way for Maddison. He hasn’t been bad, but you’d have thought keeping your in-form striker on makes sense when you’rte chasing a goal.
70 min: Manchester City continue to dominate possession, which is my way of saying nothing of note has happened in the past four minutes beyond them not letting Leicester have the ball.
66 min: Tielemans is fouled in the classic Fernandinho style as he attempts to embark on a breakaway, then the Brazilian adds insult to injury by preventing the Leicester midfielder from taking a quick free-kick first by by grabbing him, then by standing in front of him. You have to applaud those levels of devotion to the noble cause of s-housery.
64 min: Perez plays a through-ball down the inside left for Iheanacho to chase. He slashes a wild effort high and wide of the Manchester City goal from a very tight angle.
63 min: Manchester City substitution: Sergio Aguero off, Raheem Sterling on.
62 min: Castagne does well to keep the ball in play on the left touchline, cut inside and send a cross towards Vardy. It’s a little too high.
60 min: The goal has come from an unlikely source but Manchester City are well worth their lead. It was a fine finish from Mendy, who picked a spot that Schmeichel couldn’t possibly reach and calmly fired home with unerring accuracy.
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GOAL! Leicester City 0-1 Manchester City (Mendy 58)
Manchester City lead! Riyad Mahrez stings the palms of Schmeichel with a strike from inside the penalty area. Leicester fail to clear the ball properly and it drops to Mendy. He takes it around Marc Albrighton and steers the ball into the unmanned far corner.
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56 min: Aguero fails to connect as cleanly as he’d like with a Mahrez cross from the left and volleys the ball downwards and off target. It takes a deflection off a defender on its way behind but nothing comes from the ensuing corner.
55 min: Lovely, confident one touch play from Leicester to get the ball to Vardy halfway inside the Manchester City half. He’s flagged for offside and a promising move comes to nothing.
54 min: Sergio Aguero is unable to get to a Walker cross from the right to the near post ahead of Kasper Schmeichel.
52 min: Leicester City attack on the break with Iheanacho galloping through the centre. He plays the ball right to Tielemans, whose shot is blocked by Dias. Rodri clears the ensuing corner.
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50 min: Free-kick for Manchester City, wide on the right. The ball’s curled towards the far post by De Bruyne and is met by Rodri at the far post. His attempt to propel it goalwards with the kind of groin-thrust you might see at a Chippendales live show suggests he was caught unawares.
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49 min: Youri Tielemens shoots from distance, aiming for the bottom corner. His effort is on target but Ederson gets down to save.
48 min: Ayoze Perez gives the ball away, Kevin De Bruyne feeds it to Gabriel Jesus and he squares it for Aguero. Wide.
47 min: Wearing a sugical mask and a high viz vest, Jamies Maddison looks rather conspicuous as he warms up on the touchline. Looks like we’ll be seeing him before too long.
Second half: Leicester City 0-0 Manchester City
46 min: Sergio gets the ball rolling for the second half with no changes in personnel on either side.
Half-time: Leicester City 0-0 Manchester City
Peep! The deadlock remains unbroken at the King Power Stadium but it’s not for the want of trying, particularly on the part of the visitors. Fernandinho had an early effort disallowed for (an Aguero) offside, while Kevin De Bruyne struck the woodwork with a free-kick before Jamie Vardy had one chalked off too. City have been very much in the ascendency, with De Bruyne and Mahrez also going close from open play.
45+1 min: Jamie Vardy runs on to a through ball from Perez, takes it around Ederson and slots into an empty net. Offside!
43 min: Gabriel Jesus curls an effort a little too high and wide of the top bin from the left side of the Leicester penalty area.
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41 min: Mahrez scuffs a shot from close range after being teed up by Jesus and Schmeichel saves with his feet. Moments later, Kevin De Bruyne curls an effort from distance narrowly wide. Manchester City are ramping up the pressure.
39 min: Manchester City continue to simmer without ever coming to the boil. They look to have a half-decent shout for a penalty when Mahrez appears to be bundled over on the edge of Leicester’s penalty area, but he doesn’t appeal and play carries on. I’d need to see that again before forming a definitive opinion on whether he was fouled or not.
38 min: Kevin De Bruyne overhits a pass down the inside left and the ball runs through to Schmeichel, who sends it straight back to the Belgian.
36 min: Kelechi Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy are on the field but have not got the slightest whiff of the ball yet. Iheanacho almost gets a touch, but is penalised for hauling Laporte to the ground as he chased a through ball from Ndidi.
34 min: Riyad Mahrez pounces on a breaking ball in the Leicester penalty area and pokes it goalwards. Fofana blocks his effort.
32 min: Wesley Fofana chests down a Benjamin Mendy cross from the left and helps the ball upfield.
31 min: De Bruyne is cut down by Ndidi, who is booked for his troubles. Free-kick for Manchester City inside their own half.
29 min: Mahrez turns provider again, this time dinking a ball over the top to the edge of the six-yard box. Kevin De Bruyne is there but elects not to head it and the ball carries through to Schmeichel. That looked a decent chance for De Bruyne but it was almost as if heading the ball goalwards never even crossed his mind.
28 min: Riyad Mahrez stabs a lovely weighted pass towards the byline for Gabriel Jesus to chase. He slides to keep it in play but is unable to get much power behind his cross. Leicester clear.
26 min: Manchester City continue to dominate possession between the halfway line and the edge of Leicester’s penalty area, but are finding it difficult to get in behind them as the clock ticks towards the half-hour mark. Both managers will be happy enough with what they’ve seen from their respective sides so far.
24 min: Manchester City have had a goal disallowed and a free-kick hit the woodwork, all of which means they are technically yet to have a shot on target in this game. One suspects it’s only a matter of time.
22 min: Kevin De Bruyne takes the free-kick and thumps his effort off the cross-bar. Timothy Castagne hacks the ball clear. So close.
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20 min: Fernandinho picks out Kevin De Bruyne, who shoots high over the bar from the edge of the penalty area under pressure from Ndidi. It seems he was fouled by the Nigerian, although I didn’t see any infringement. City have a frree-kick three or four yards outside the penalty area, a little left of centre.
18 min: Aguero fires high over the bar, moments after Gabriel Jesus had failed to control a wonderful pass from Kevin De Bruyne. Aguero’s opportunity came about after an attempted clearnace by Evans was blocked and the ball broke his way.
17 min: Kasper Schmeichel chips the ball over City’s high press and straight out of play for a throw-in.
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16 min: Kyle Walker thumps a shot-come-diagonal cross along the floor through the Leicester City penalty area. Jonny Evans blocks.
15 min: Mahrez and Walker exchange passes on the right wing as Manchester City continue to pen Leicester deep inside their own half. They’re defending stoutly for the time being.
13 min: Manchester Citypress and probe, showiong no signs of impatience as they look for a way through Leicester’s defence. Riyad Mahrez attempts a cross and Leicester win the ball back briefly. Youri Tielemans quickly gives it away.
11 min: Manchester City are in the ascendency in these early stages, but are struggling to create much in the way of chances ... apart from the opportunistic half-chance they “scored”.
9 min: Leicester wing-back Timothy Castagne is fouled by Fernandinho, who is probably stewing over the fact that his first goal of the season has been chalked off. It was a fine strike, which appeared to dip and bounce on its way past Kasper Schmeichel.
7 min: A Kevin De Bruyne cross fails to clear the first man. The man in question, Jonny Evans, heads clear.
As you were, the goal has been disallowed ...
The flag goes up and Fernandinho’s fine strike is disallowed. Segio Aguero was offside and apparently impairing Kasper Schmeichel’s view as the ball fizzed into the bottom left-hand corner.
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GOAL! Leicester City 0-1 Manchester City (Fernandinho 5)
Fernandinho opens the scoring for Manchester City, firing home from about 30 yards after connecting with a clearance.
3 min: Kevin De Bruyne is penalised for a foul on Jamie Vardy, who was sprinting to retrieve the ball after a loose pass from Kyle Walker. Marc Albrighton’s delivery across the Manchester City penalty area is headed clear by Rodri.
3 min: Rodri gads down the left wing, but has his attempt at a cross cut out by Daniel Amartey.
2 min: Ruben Dias gets an early touch, heading clear a ball from deep aimed towards Jamie Vardy.
Leicester City v Manchester City is go ...
1 min: Following a moment of applause for the late former Leicester City player Frank Worthington, play begins, with Ayoze Perez gertting the ball rolling. Leicester’s players wear their usual home kit of blue shorts, blue shirts and blue socks. Manchester City’s wear a kind of milky paisley shirt, black shorts and white socks.
Not long now: Manchester City are first out on the pitch, followed by their hosts. The last of the pre-match formalities are under way.
Brendan Rodgers speaks ...
“The pattern of the game is always the same whenever you play Manchester City,” the Leicester City manager tells Sky Sports. “You normally have the ball 26% to 36% possession so you need to defend well but you have time to play and you will have opportunities. There will be space for you. And like we did that day [when Leicester beat City 5-2], you have to exploit that in the right moments.”
Two Saturday Premier League games down, two to go: We’ve had wins for West Brom and Leeds in two very, very entertaining top flight games so far today, leaving Leicester and Manchester City, then Arsenal and Liverpool with very hard acts to follow. It’s difficult to imagine anything in the weekend’s Premier League programme will match the sheer craziness and unpredictability of the day’s opener at Stamford Bridge; we can but hope.
Premier League: Hot on the heels of West Brom’s astonishing 5-2 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Leeds United have seen off Sheffield United at Elland Road by the odd goal of three. Leeds squandered no end of chances but were worthy winners - a Phil Jagielka own goal settled the game after Ben Osborn had cancelled out Jack Harrison’s opener.
Kelechi Iheanacho news: The in-form Leicester striker has signed a new deal that will keep him at the club until 2024. Ther 24-year-old’s new and presumably improved contract comes on the back of a run of form that has seen him score seven goals in his past four games, taking his tally for the club to 32 in 117 appearances across all competitions.
Those teams: Following the recent revelation that he will leave Manchester City come season’s end, Sergio Aguero starts up front. Gabriel Jesus is also included in a side that boasts two holding midfielders in Rodri and Fernandinho. John Stones, Joao Cancelo, Ferran Torres and Bernardo Silva are out of the side that started against Fulham in their most recent Premier League outing. Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and Kyle Walker are in.
James Maddison is fit enough to make the Leicester bench, but Caglar Soyuncu is not in their matchday squad. Daniel Amartey starts in his place. Marc Albrighton is in for Ricardo Pereira, who is also among the subsitutes.
Leicester City v Manchester City line-ups
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Castagne, Amartey, Fofana, Evans, Ndidi, Tielemans, Albrighton, Perez, Iheanacho, Vardy.
Subs: Ward, Maddison, Choudhury, Ricardo, Mendy, Praet, Thomas, Daley-Campbell, Suengchitthawon.
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Mendy, Laporte, Dias, Rodri, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Jesus, Aguero.
Subs: Carson, Stones, Ake, Sterling, Gundogan, Bernardo, Torres, Cancelo, Foden.
Today’s match officials
- Referee: Anthony Taylor.
- Assistants: Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn.
- Fourth official: Craig Pawson.
- VAR: Peter Bankes.
- Assistant VAR: Timothy Wood.
Early team news: Pep Guardiola has a full squad to choose from but may elect to rest some of his favoured first-teamers in favour of keeping one eye on next week’s Champions League quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund.
Leicester City, by contrast, must plan without Harvey Barnes and James Justin, while James Maddison, Wes Morgan, Cengiz Under and Ricardo Pereira are all in doubt.
Premier League: Leicester City v Manchester City
Third in the table but no fewer than 15 points behind Manchester City, Leicester entertain the league leaders at the King Power Stadium. Bang in form after being awarded the Premier League Player of the Month award for his performances in March, Kelechi Iheanacho will be relishing the prospect of trying his luck against the team that deemed him surplus to requirements in 2017 and will be hoping to add to his tally of seven goals ion his past four games. Kick-off at the King Power is at 5.30pm but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
