Leicester 0-2 Man City: Three Foxes Talking Points | OneFootball

Resources stretched

The midway point of the season was reached with the arrival of Manchester City at the King Power Stadium. The visitors went into the game complaining of an injury crisis but, with all due respect, their strength in depth is much greater than the Foxes. Life back in the Premier League has taken its toll on Leicester with several top players – Ricardo Pereira, Abdul Fatawu, Wilfred Ndidi and Mads Hermansen – unavailable. With Jordan Ayew suspended and Wout Faes also out, the club’s resources are really stretched. As a result, the Leicester team virtually picked itself. Ruud van Nistelrooy made two changes from the midweek Liverpool clash, bringing back Jamie Vardy for Patson Daka and Facundo Buonanotte for Ayew. Jakub Stolarczyk retained his place in goal

An even contest

A 2-0 win for the champions seems like a routine result. It was anything but. I don’t think it is too much of an exaggeration to say that Leicester were marginally the better side and, had they taken their chances, might well have got something from the game. Witnessing Manchester City players diving and wasting time was a striking illustration of the competition that the Foxes provided – although Michael Oliver, supposedly one of our better referees, was totally oblivious to these tactics and, moreover, seemed to think that he wasn’t permitted to issue yellow cards to the visiting team.

The home team had surprising amounts of possession (54% against 46%) regularly successful bypassing the Manchester City press. They created several good chances, two for Vardy which he uncharacteristically missed, and Buonanotte agonisingly hit the post with a looping header. The away side were well below the level expected of a team challenging at the top end of the Premier League. The only goal of the first half came when the Foxes failed to close down Phil Foden and Stolarczyk might have done better than knocking his shot into the path of the onrushing Savinho who slotted the ball high into the net. The second half followed a similar pattern with the visitors often pinned back defending their goal. With City searching for an equaliser, the team from the Etihad broke and Erling Haaland clinically headed a cross beyond the Leicester keeper. A bitter blow for Leicester who deserved so much more.