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MOTD: Manchester City 1-3 Leicester City

By on February 6, 2016

Leicester City had 5000-1 title odds going into the Premier League season.  It’s been confirmed that at least a few people placed £10 and £40 pound bets on the prospect and now, following the Foxes’ 3-1 demolition of Manchester City, the bookmakers have them as favorites to win the league for the first time in their incredible campaign. At this point last season, Leicester had already been mathematically eliminated from the title race, sitting rock bottom in the league.

Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri once again laughed off the speculation.  “I don’t believe the bookmakers,” he said, per the BBC. “They said I was first to be sacked! But I hope they are right.”

Indeed, “there are 36 points to play for, nothing is finished,” as Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said.  This result does not mean Leicester will win the title, but it is a striking affirmation that they have a genuine chance at it.  They’re now five points clear at the top of the table and the meeting with Arsenal next week looks increasingly more like an opportunity to stretch that lead, rather than a daunting prospect.

They demolished City with their now familiar, ruthlessly effective counter-attacking game as Robert Huth bagged a goal at either end of the half and Riyad Mahrez, who became the first player this season to reach double-figures in both goals and assists in the league, struck in the forty-eighth minute.

Pellegrini admitted he could have “no complaints” whatsoever about the result.  If anything, Sergio Aguero’s late consolation goal was somewhat flattering for a City side devoid of their usual creativity and verve.  Perhaps the most worrying fact for the Sky Blues is that they have not beaten any side currently in the top six of the table and have lost more league home games this season than they had in the last two seasons combined, per the BBC.

They’re now behind Tottenham Hotspur in third, and Arsenal could easily overtake them tomorrow with a win at Bournemouth as well.

Leicester’s intensity overwhelmed City’s shaky backline from the opening whistle and just two-and-a-half minutes into the game, Huth poked home Mahrez’s free-kick at the near post to give Leicester the lead.  In the twenty-third minute,  Jamie Vardy beat Nicolas Otamendi down the left and Shinji Okazaki came inches away from tapping home his low cross as Leicester pushed for another goal.

It was Mahrez who delivered the goods on the other side of the half, turning City’s centerbacks inside-out with a double stepover on the edge of the area, then lashing a shot in off the post.

The home side came close to pulling one back on fifty-five minutes with their best chance of the match, only for Kasper Schmeichel to tip wide Fernando’s near-post header.

On the hour mark, Huth sent a looping, far-post header from a corner back across goal and into the top corner of the net to seal the three points for the visitors.  Aguero flicked a header past Schmeichel into the bottom corner of the net with three minutes to go, but it was too little, too late.

Homepage photo credit: Oldelpaso (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.