PEP’S CITY STILL IN THE HUNT
Vardy gets Foxes off to a flyer but Mahrez turns tide
IT IS too early to say that the title race is back on but anyone tempted to argue that Manchester City’s victory over Leicester City at The Etihad strengthened Liverpool’s dominant position at the top of the Premier League would be wrong.
There is only one team that can catch Liverpool now and it is not Leicester.
So, sure, even though Liverpool were away chasing Club World Cup glory in Qatar, their advantage at the top of the table remains at ten points and they now have a game in hand. Leicester are their closest challengers and this defeat was a setback for them.
All the same, this victory for Pep Guardiola’s revitalised side was at least a hint that Liverpool’s advance on the title may not yet be a canter. This City victory was a reminder that the champions have not given up. It was a warning that if Liverpool falter, City will be there, ready to pounce.
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester team are a fine side in their own right and their play on the counter-attack here was quite dazzling. Jamie Vardy scored for the ninth game out of ten and embarrassed the home defence with his pace and poise. But Manchester City outclassed their opponents.
Liverpool have set such a fearsome pace at the top that it is hard to see anyone catching them but City are the only ones who have a chance. Those who thought they had already ceded the title were shown here that they were mistaken. Those who thought they would lie down when Vardy put Leicester ahead with a sublime first-half finish were given a rude shock.
City responded brilliantly. Riyad Mahrez was all but unplayable on City’s right flank in the first half. In the second half, Kevin De Bruyne took over as the dominant player. Some of his midfield play was breathtaking, particularly the way in which he set up a third for Gabriel Jesus.
Manchester City are 11 points behind Liverpool, yes, but if they can plug the holes that keep appearing in their defence, we know they are a team capable of putting a long, unbeaten run together.
If they do that, a Liverpool team playing against the weight of history, as well as Guardiola’s brilliant side, may feel the heat.
When Leicester beat City here in February 2016, it was, for many, the moment that their title challenge seemed real and that the impossible started to seem possible. After Leicester took the lead here, some thought that history was repeating itself.
City had subjected Leicester to intense pressure in the opening stages and nearly took the lead after 13 minutes. Mahrez, one of the stars of Leicester’s titlewinning side, was booed by the visiting fans behind the goal as he tortured and teased Ben Chilwell down the City right. When he laid the ball back to De Bruyne, the City midfielder lashed his shot against the base of a post.
Mahrez was unplayable in those early exchanges. Soon after, he ran at Chilwell again and lured him into a challenge before dragging the ball away from him with a sublime touch and firing the ball across goal. Jesus tried to steer it past Kasper Schmeichel but the ball was cleared off the line.
The home side were given a glimpse of the danger Leicester posed on the break when Vardy chased down a long ball and cut inside Nicolas Otamendi. He played the ball into the six-yard area but Harvey Barnes could not quite get the touch he needed as he stretched to meet it. Manchester City did not heed the warning, though. A couple of minutes later, Leicester beat the press and played the ball out of defence down the left. Chilwell found Barnes, who threaded a ball outside Fernandinho and into the path of Vardy. The striker hurtled towards goal and as Ederson came out to meet him, Vardy lifted the ball deftly over him and it floated gently into the net. It was a brilliant finish.
Five minutes later, Vardy went close to a second goal. Again he was set free by a clever long ball over the top of the City defence. He ran at Otamendi and turned him inside out before jinking past Fernandinho and blasting his shot just over the bar.
City’s vulnerability to the counter-attack, their uncertainty in defence, was a reminder of just why they have fallen so far behind Liverpool this season.
But after half an hour, Mahrez finally got the reward his brilliance deserved. Rarely can Chilwell have had such an uncomfortable first half and Mahrez left him chasing shadows again when he took a long ball down on his chest and cut inside. With Chilwell trailing, Mahrez fired in a left-footed shot and when it took a deflection off Caglar Soyuncu, Schmeichel was wrongfooted. Guardiola’s men were level.
They began to turn the screw now and three minutes before half time, they took the lead. For once, they attacked down the other flank and this time it was Raheem Sterling who lured Ricardo Pereira into a bad choice. When Pereira lunged to try to steal the ball away from the England winger, Sterling was too quick for him. He pushed the ball past him, Pereira stood on his foot and Sterling went down. Ilkay Gundogan placed the spot-kick low past Schmeichel’s left hand into the corner.
Leicester had one golden chance to equalise. It came, inevitably, from another lightning-quick, superbly executed counter-attack. This time, Vardy was the creator, sprinting away down the right and curling a perfect cross into the path of Barnes. The Leicester forward got to it before Ederson but the goalkeeper did enough to make Barnes take his eye off the ball and instead of making firm contact, he could only slice it wide. It was the turning point of the match.
Twenty minutes from the end, De Bruyne, who had taken over from Mahrez as the game’s outstanding player, tore through the heart of the Leicester defence and drilled his cross to the back post where Jesus was waiting to prod it over the line and re-establish City as the title race’s most credible challengers.
Manchester city (4-3-3): Ederson 7; Walker 6, Fernandinho 6, Otamendi 5, Mendy 5; De Bruyne 9, Gundogan 7 (Rodrigo 78min, 6), Bernardo 6; Mahrez 9, Gabriel Jesus 7, Sterling 8 (Foden 89). Booked: De Bruyne (Aguero 90), Gundogan. subs (not used): Bravo, Zinchenko, Cancelo, Garcia.
Leicester city (4-1-4-1): Schmeichel 8; Pereira 6, Soyuncu 6, Evans 7, Chilwell 5; Ndidi 7; Perez 6 (Gray 68, 6), Tielemans 6 (Praet 75, 6), Maddison 6, Barnes 6 (Albrighton 64, 6); Vardy 8. Booked: Soyuncu, Ndidi. subs (not used): Ward, Justin, Morgan, Iheanacho. referee: M Dean 7.