Pep Guardiola was honest in the post-match press conference ...
Jamie Jackson on Bernardo Silva ...
And with that, I’m gone. Here’s the match report again. Bye!
Manchester City are 1-12 to win the league.
Here’s more from Kompany, on why he was so emotional after the game:
Every game is potentially the last one. I don’t know at this point, but you never know. I’m going to play football for as long as I can, but it’s football. If, if, if, then this is the way.
The man of the moment talks. Here’s Vincent Kompany:
I didn’t score this season but for me, I always feel in big moments I’m going to do something. Today was a little bit of frustration, because everyone was saying, ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot.’ I could really hear it. And it was annoying me. And I said, ‘Hold on a second, I’ve not come this far in my career for young players to tell me whether I can take a shot or not.’ And I just took it.
I’ve scored goals like that in training. You know what, it’s a funny story. It’s 15 years of having midfielders tell me, ‘Don’t shoot! Play the ball wide!’ For 15 years I’ve said, ‘One day I’m going to have a shot from outside the box, and it’s going to go in, and you’re going to be happy with that one.’
And today it happened.
There were plenty of positives. Next season should be a decent one for Leicester.
A tough one, but we take the positives to the next game💙
— Ndidi Wilfred (@Ndidi25) May 6, 2019
It’s six years since Vincent Kompany last had a shot on target from outside the box.
Kompany is very teary on the post-match lap of honour. His is quite the story, but tonight was one hell of a plot twist.
Here’s Daniel Taylor’s match report:
Five of Manchester City’s last 10 games have ended 1-0. It’s never ideal to be relying on 25-yard wondergoals from Vincent Kompany, but someone always comes up with something. They are utterly relentless.
NOT FROM THERE!
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 6, 2019
Captain fantastic Vincent Kompany fires home from 30 yards and the Etihad erupts!
📺 Watch Man City v Leicester on #MNF now: https://t.co/OvuxTZDbs9 pic.twitter.com/2KlaUVpSDt
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Wolves finish seventh in the Premier League!
Leicester’s defeat means that Wolverhampton Wanderers cannot now be caught by anyone on the final day, and will thus finish seventh in the Premier League. They will also take a place in the Europa League, unless Watford manage to win the FA Cup final.
We are now certain to finish 7th in the @premierleague - our highest league position since 1979/80
— Wolves (@Wolves) May 6, 2019
👏📈 pic.twitter.com/O2mqBcPNlN
Leicester were excellent, Ricardo Pereira and Choudhury especially, but Manchester City always find a way. This was a hell of a way, though.
Final score: Manchester City 1-0 Leicester City
90+4 mins: It’s over! Manchester City win their 13th league game in a row, and are back on top of the league!
Updated
90+3 mins: Sane is played through, and though Chilwell gets across to dispossess him with a sliding challenge, the ball rolls out for a throw-in. There are 25 seconds to play.
90+2 mins: Man City break, Gundogan runs 40 yards with the ball and, with Sane left and Jesus right, loops the ball gently into Schmeichel’s arms.
90+1 mins: A mere three minutes of stoppage time are signalled.
90 mins: Iheanacho is booked for nearly touching Jesus, who does an evasive quintuple forward roll. City bring John Stones on for David Silva.
89 mins: Barnes tries to lead a break for Leicester, and Sterling commits the cynical foul. Jesus is booked, presumably for some backchat.
88 mins: In further substitutional news, Leicester have brought Gray on for Albrighton.
87 mins: Leicester have a brilliant chance! Choudhury plays it through to Iheanacho, on the edge of the area, whose first-time, left-foot finish is ... horrendous.
Updated
86 mins: Aguero positions himself on the right touchline, as far as possible from the bench, just before he is replaced, and then he takes a breather midway across the pitch to roll down his socks and fiddle with his shin pads. Jesus comes on.
85 mins: “Man City are so boring when they get the lead,” says Phil Haran. “Masters at killing a game. Sure they’ll take more goals if given but they don’t play with intensity. When they are a goal down they can be magnificent attacking from all angles and at speed.” They’re doing a pretty good job killing this one. Not by cynical timewasting, though there was a bit of that when they got a corner a couple of minutes back, just by playing in slow motion.
83 mins: That is allegedly the first goal Kompany has ever scored from outside the area.
Kompany’s previous goals from outside the box: 0 pic.twitter.com/fiDWZg0OfW
— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) May 6, 2019
81 mins: Leicester bring on Iheanacho, a man with a point to prove round these parts, for Maddison.
79 mins: The tension has seeped out of the night like so much air from a punctured lilo. Leicester appear to have no idea how to get through the home defence.
77 mins: Sky show some more replays of the goal. It keeps getting better.
75 mins: Leicester take Tielemans off, and bring on Barnes.
74 mins: Leicester keep the ball for a while, with City no longer that bothered about their high press. It ends with Albrighton shooting at Ederson from 25 yards.
73 mins: The ball is played back to Kompany, who slips with Vardy closing him down! But then he gets up again, before Vardy arrives.
71 mins: Nobody closed him down because, well, he’s Vincent Kompany. Big mistake. That was an absolute cracker of a shot! Brilliant!
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Leicester City (Kompany, 70 mins)
Vincent Kompany thunders one into the top corner from 25 yards!
Updated
69 mins: Chance! And a brilliant save! The ball is poked into the area, goes through Evans’ legs and runs to Aguero, who pokes it towards goal only for Schmeichel to bat it away with a leg!
67 mins: Now Sterling seems to have shifted to the right, with Bernardo Silva moving central. Man City keep trying different answers to the Leicester question.
65 mins: Walker approaches the Leicester area with the ball, before calmly sidefooting across it, in the direction of nobody, and out for a Leicester throw-in. The crowd wails in anguish.
63 mins: Leicester have a shot! Maguire steals the ball nicely in the Leicester area and strides out of the box. And then he keeps striding, until he is midway through the Man City half, on the left flank! He passes infield to Maddison, who shoots narrowly wide from 25 yards when he might have passed to Albrighton!
61 mins: Leicester just had the ball in Man City’s half.
60 mins: Sterling goes down in the area as becomes the meat in a Choudhury/Chilwell sandwich. Choudhury had got the ball cleanly, though, and the referee is unmoved.
59 mins: Since Sane’s arrival Sterling has been shifted from the left flank into the middle, to provide some closer support for Aguero.
58 mins: Gundogan’s 20-yarder skims just wide. Man City have taken control of this game, but they aren’t creating chances (yet).
58 mins: In the last 10 minutes Leicester have not had the ball in Man City’s half. Not once.
Updated
56 mins: Phil Foden’s race is run. Leroy Sane replaces him.
54 mins: The pressure builds. Pereira gives the ball away on the right, and Sterling finds a large pocket of space outside the area from which to drag a shot wide.
53 mins: The corer is headed clear, but then sent back into the box by Walker. David Silva heads it looping back across goal, and Sterling heads over the bar from seven yards!
52 mins: Man City win their seventh corner of the night. Leicester are yet to get their first.
49 mins: Sky’s cameras find Leroy Sane warming up on the touchline. I’m pretty sure he was doing the Twist:
48 mins: Another jinking run off the right wing from Bernardo Silva, this one ending with a low shot well wide of the near post.
46 mins: David Silva and Albrighton compete for a bouncing ball. Albrighton gets the ball, Silva brushes Albrighton. A Leicester free kick, but still no second booking.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Leicester get the game restarted! And then the referee calls it back because Aguero was in the wrong half at the time, and then they do get the game restarted.
The players are on their way back out. Has Pep spotted Leicester’s Achilles heel? Let’s find out...
Some of the few half-timely messages that don’t involve Liverpool supporters showing a remarkable ignorance of the phrase “hostage to fortune”:
@Simon_Burnton Surely save of the season for Kasper Schmeichel? Especially if this result stays the same. Jaw-dropping reflexes in one of the biggest games of the year.
— John Nekrasov (@john_nekrasov) May 6, 2019
@Simon_Burnton It's funny that people have now suddenly discovered Pep's basic tactic of fouling higher up on the pitch. His great Barca team won so many trophies because of this.
— Gary P (@eismcquare) May 6, 2019
I don’t know if this is a genuinely tense game, or if it just feels that way because we all know what the league table looks like. It seems extremely and thrillingly tense to me. Leicester are playing excellently and bravely, the referee is having a great game, and Manchester City’s breakthrough has not come. Time for a deep breath, and then 45 minutes more.
Half time: Manchester City 0-0 Leicester City
45+2 mins: City push forward, and the referee lets stoppage time tick beyond one minute. Then Sterling’s caught offside, which gives him a whistle-peeping pause.
45+1 mins: There will be one minute of stoppage time, or so. It starts with Bernardo Silva spinning onto Aguero’s throw-in and shooting too close to Schmeichel from 20 yards.
44 mins: Kompany flies in on Maddison, fractionally late but fairly ugly, and is booked.
43 mins: The ball goes behind for a goal kick, and Mike Dean has a chat with Schmeichel, who has been taking a little long over his restarts.
42 mins: Maguire concedes another corner, heading behind Sterling’s volleyed cross. Man City are piling on a little pre-half-timely pressure.
Updated
41 mins: The ball is headed to Bernardo Silva on the edge of the area, whose half-volley is blocked, and then re-centred, re-headed this time to Gundogan on the edge of the area, and his half-volley flashes wide.
40 mins: The ball loops off a defender and into the heart of Leicester’s defence. Maguire has no idea who’s where, so takes the least risky option and heads it behind for a corner.
38 mins: Some brilliant keep-ball from Leicester, which ends with a high pass towards Tielemans, who slips just as it arrives.
36 mins: A rare Leicester attack, and it’s over a little too quickly. Albrighton crosses from the right, and Ederson collects.
35 mins: Maguire has been booked, for questioning the assistant referee’s offside decisions.
34 mins: Man City threaten again! It’s a free kick from the left, which Kompany heads back from the far post, is half cleared, and David Silva half-volleys across goal and just wide!
33 mins: My mistake: it was bar first, glove second, Schmeichel palming the ball off the line.
Updated
32 mins: And another! And this time they nearly score! The ball comes in, Aguero heads goalwards and the ball flies off Schmeichel’s glove, onto the underside of the bar and away to safety!
City average 8.5 fouls per PL game this season but have conceded six already vs Leicester and Mike Dean is on the case
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) May 6, 2019
31 mins: A lovely, jinking run from the right by the brilliant Bernado Silva is only just stopped, as the goal started to get really very near. City have a corner.
Updated
29 mins: Another David Silva foul, this time on Madison. That certainly wasn’t a booking, but he could do with keeping his boots to himself from now on.
Updated
27 mins: The home fans might stop howling at the referee for doing nothing wrong, and opposing players for not just gifting them the ball, and instead consider this:
This match is a master class in what other managers (eg Solskjær) say about Man City’s tactical fouling in midfield. It’s stealthy, and it’s not violent, and it takes tonight’s referee 22 minutes to issue a yellow card.
— Richard Williams (@rwilliams1947) May 6, 2019
25 mins: Crumbs, the home fans just hate other teams doing inconvenient stuff like passing and tackling. Evans tackles Sterling excellently, and the crowd howls with rage.
24 mins: A quarter of the game has been played, and if Leicester aren’t quite giving as good as they’re getting, they’re not very far away.
22 mins: Excellent play from Madison on the left, who refuses to give the ball away under extreme pressure and instead conjures a pass to Tielemans. David Silva stops the situation getting dangerous with a cynical foul, and is booked.
22 mins: A penalty appeal from Man City, who think the ball hit Evans’ hand. The referee disagrees.
Updated
20 mins: Another good run forward from Ricardo Pereira, but he can’t quite keep the ball in play when it is chipped behind the defence in his direction.
18 mins: Man City win another corner. Gundogan sends it beyond the far post to Sterling, whose volleyed shot is so bad it sends the ball spinning backwards to Foden, whose volleyed shot is not a great deal better, flying well high.
17 mins: Walker’s hilarious 45-yarder misses the goal by about 30 yards.
14 mins: Tielemans, 25 yards out and right in the middle of the pitch, shoots straight down the middle of the goal. Ederson saves.
14 mins: Leicester are keeping the ball rather well. Not always doing a whole lot with it, but at least not giving it away unnecessarily.
11 mins: And a great chance for Man City! Walker chips a lovely ball into the area, where Foden has ghosted into space, played onside by Chilwell on the left. He chests down but then shoots straight at Schmeichel!
8 mins: Chance for Leicester! Pereira cuts in from the right and refuses to go over when a desperate defender lunges a leg into his path. That would surely have been a penalty, had he tumbled! Instead he goes on, and hits a low shot that Kompany blocks!
7 mins: Evans’ poor defensive header gives the ball to Gundogan, and he passes to Aguero, but presented with a tasty shooting opportunity from the edge of the area he delays, and Tielemans takes the ball off his toes.
4 mins: Leicester hold the ball for a while, without threatening to take it out of their own half. The crowd boos and whistles. Eventually they thrust down the left, where Chilwell wins a throw-in, and then play it all the way back to Schmeichel again.
Updated
3 mins: Sterling goes to ground just outside the left side of the area. The referee invites him to get up again.
1 min: Man City are on the front foot already. They win a corner. The crowd roars. They play it short.
1 min: Peeeeeeeeep! The home side get us started.
“Am I missing something or is it a no-class move for Guardiola not to give Mahrez a start here? Why buy him then?” fumes Eric Schwab. There’s no room for sentiment in this game, chum. Here’s Mahrez saying hi to some old mates:
IT'S SHOWTIME! 🙌
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 6, 2019
🔵 #MCILEI #mancity pic.twitter.com/2IsLpMn1xd
Incidentally, there is an annoying number of teams called City in action tonight. I apologise in advance if occasionally, in the heat of the action, I call Manchester City just City. Nothing personal.
And out they come! Will there be an unexpected title-chase plot twist tonight? We’re about to find out!
Updated
The players are gathering in the tunnel. Kick-off approaches!
“Mike Dean? Could he have an influence on the outcome of this match? Just asking,” writes Rai Skrupskis. Interestingly Dean also refereed the game at the King Power Stadium in December, when Leicester beat Pep Guardiola’s side.
He has taken charge of two Man City games since, which they won 9-0 and 6-0.
“I don’t think he’s admired,” insists Gary Naylor of Jamie Vardy. “I think fans and pros rather turn their nose up at his untutored ways and miss the intelligence of his runs and finishing and the total commitment he makes to every match.”
Oh. Well they shouldn’t.
“Happy Mondays are a Manchester band, aren’t they?” asks Peter Oh. Indeed they were. “Didn’t they have a song called Lazyitis?” They did. Continue. “I expect that Pep’s boys will too motivated to suffer from that tonight, but speaking as someone who strongly prefers Liverpool to finish top, a timely bout of Cityitis would make this the happiest of Mondays!”
To judge from my inbox, Leicester appear to have a lot of well-wishers this evening.
Brendan Rodgers has a chat:
We’ve been playing very well. Obviously our last result, we played well, deserved the win. It’s a great game to be involved in, and we come here to get a result.
When you play against Manchester City you’ve got to be able to defend well. You’ll have the ball for less time than against other teams, so concentration’s important. And then you need that little bit of luck, and you need the quality. We’ve got the quality. The players come with no fear, but they expect it’ll be a very tough game.
We’ve got a lot of really talented players. We’ve got to play quickly through the press, and then there’s space. We’ve talked about it a lot this week, and we hope we can take that into the game.
“Is all the talk of City slipping up simply engineered to keep the title race interesting, as another City procession would be boring?” wonders Michael Gibson. “Before each match the rhetoric is all about what the other team might do, how dangerous they can be etc. Totally ignoring the fact that this is the best Premier League team ever! It’s been in City’s hands for ages. Realistically, surely no one expects Leicester to get anything off a City team at home and on a twelve match winning streak?”
Well, not really, but a) it’s a funny old game, etc and so forth; b) we’ve had two days since Liverpool’s game. What else has there been to talk about?
“I know I’m going a bit all-in with this one, but I’d suggest that Jamie Vardy may be the most underrated player in Premier League history,” says Gary Naylor. “This week, he would have made the starting XI of any side except possibly Manchester City.”
He’s absolutely great, though I really don’t think a hugely-admired, title-winning, internationally-recognised, goal-scoring centre-forward can possibly make the “most underrated player” list, which will surely be full of full-backs and holding midfielders. Denis Irwin for No1, maybe? Unless he’s disqualified for excess medal-snaffling, or for being called underrated too frequently?
“I think the first time I ever watched City play away was at Leicester,” writes Geoff. “It would have been around 1958, and I seem to remember that Leicester won 8-4!! Those were the days. I can’t see twelve goals tonight, though. Can you?”
a) Yes, it was February 1958. “One needed a comptometer rather than a pencil with which to keep track of events,” the Guardian wrote. “At one period a spectator collapsed and was removed from the arena. By the time the little procession had completed the circuit of the ground, three more goals had been added and the stretcher-bearers and patient showed understandable reluctance to quit the scene.”
b) No.
Pep Guardiola talks:
Two games left. So, we have to take six points. The first three is today. Then we will see. The quality they have, a lot of quality in the middle. The full-backs, they are so, so strong going forward. Good keeper experience. We’ll see if we can control it and react well. Vardy? It’s difficult to control him. His movement, his runs in behind, are one of the best in the world. We have to try to play our game. We’ll see what’s going on. We need two more wins. Every game is different, every opponent has its own quality. We want to do our best in the last two games.
The teams!
Here are tonight’s line-ups. Phil Foden, as you can see, starts for the home side:
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Kompany, Laporte, Zinchenko, Silva, Gundogan, Foden, Bernardo Silva, Aguero, Sterling. Subs: Danilo, Stones, Sane, Mahrez, Otamendi, Gabriel Jesus, Muric.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Ricardo Pereira, Evans, Maguire, Chilwell, Ndidi, Albrighton, Tielemans, Choudhury, Maddison, Vardy. Subs: Morgan, Gray, Iheanacho, Ward, Barnes, Mendy, Fuchs.
Referee: Mike Dean.
Your City team for the final home game of 2018/19! 🙌
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 6, 2019
XI | Ederson, Walker, Kompany (C), Laporte, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Silva, Foden, Sterling, Bernardo, Aguero
Subs | Muric, Danilo, Stones, Sané, Mahrez, Otamendi, Jesus
⚽️ @haysworldwide
🔵 #MCILEI #mancity pic.twitter.com/3lC1FrVJct
Here's how Leicester City line up tonight 🦊#MciLei pic.twitter.com/Kms5rE8CGg
— Leicester City (@LCFC) May 6, 2019
Manchester City’s final-day visit to Brighton might not be a proverbial walk in the proverbial park, if the Seagulls’ display at Arsenal yesterday was anything to go by (although Arsenal are, at present, rubbish):
Interesting statistic: Manchester City and Leicester have played 117 times. Of those games, only one was played in May. That’s compared with 14 games in April, 15 in March and a massive 27 - twenty-seven - games in January!
Here’s Jamie Jackson’s match report from May 2017:
Hello world!
Ding ding ding! Seconds out, round 37!
Right then, let’s not take anything for granted. Leicester have, after all, beaten Manchester City once already this season, and drawn with them in the League Cup (well, they lost but only on penalties). And since Brendan Rodgers’ appointment Leicester have been transformed into the third best team in the Premier League. But since losing to Leicester at the King Power Stadium back in December Manchester City have taken 48 out of a possible 51 points. They last faltered at Newcastle back in January, 12 consecutive victories and an aggregate score of 27-3 ago. If they win tonight and at Brighton on Sunday, they will be league champions and thoroughly deserving champions they will be. If they don’t - and eagle-eyed football fans might have noticed this - Liverpool lie in wait. Given the champions’ extraordinary form and ability a routine home win would appear likely, but pressure, nerves, stress and also Leicester might have an impact too.
Anyway, welcome. Here’s Pep Guardiola on why the English top flight is “the toughest league”:
