Manchester City 2 Leicester City 0: match report

Blues see off Leicester in game where fans make their voices heard

Manchester City returned to action on Wednesday night against Leicester City after a comeback win in the FA cup against Bournemouth. The lineup was a changed one, featuring no Khushanov and De Bruyne. Haaland has been ruled out for seven weeks following his ankle injury on Sunday and will miss the bulk of the remainder of the season. Ederson kept his place in goal. Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol and O’Reilly were in the back line. Gonzalez and Gundogan started holding the midfield with Doku and Savio on the wings. Grealish started in attacking midfield with Marmoush the sole striker.

The first 9 minutes of the game were marred by a demonstration shown by City fans in the stands choosing not to take their seats to protest against the club’s recent decision to partner with the controversial third-party ticketing site Viagogo. It was during these first 9 minutes that the first goal of the game was scored by Jack Grealish, ending his 16 month wait for a Premier League goal finally, getting into the box and side-footing it past the goalkeeper. Throughout the game Leicester generally didn’t look very threatening, perhaps the least trouble the City defence have faced all season. Leicester’s closest chance perhaps came from a bending shot from El Khannous but his shot was well wide of the post.

City then scored their next goal in the 29th minute, after a mistake from Leicester goalkeeper Hermansen, who dived into the legs of Faes and spilled the ball straight to Marmoush who smashed the ball in off the crossbar to make it 2-0. His sixth City goal since joining in January.

Jamie Vardy, who once troubled City greatly generally had a quiet game, apart from a foul he committed on Marmoush to stop a potential attacking, which he was then booked for. City almost had a third on the stroke of half time with a shot from Savio but it was tipped over the bar by Hermasen. A comfortable first half for the Blues ended 2-0

The second half was largely a similar story but there was not much action, with most of the half being City possession. A small chance generated in the 55th minute for O’Reilly but his effort was blocked by Faes

A shot from Marmoush after a brilliant ball in from Doku was over the bar in the 61st minute and City could not build their 2-0 lead. City controlled the game all the way through and the Foxes had hardly seemed to bite at all and this game is now their sixth loss on the bounce in which they have failed to score and relegation looks very likely now. The win temporarily moves City to fourth but to maintain this they will need results elsewhere to go their way. The ultimate run in over the next two months for the Blues will be focusing on qualifying for the Champions League and have a piece of silverware in the FA cup to show for what has otherwise been a very subpar season for Guardiola’s City