Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City: Erling Haaland breaks goal duck to give Pep Guardiola’s men first win in five against stubborn Foxes side
Erling Haaland scored his first goal in five games for Manchester City to secure a hard-fought win over Leicester City and end the Championship year on a high.
The visitors were looking to put their miserable fortunes of late behind them, recording just a second win in ten Premier League games, but looked nervous in the opening exchanges and were susceptible to Leicester’s quick counter-attacks.
Jamie Vardy, once the Foxes’ talisman, looked threatening and thought he was being awarded a penalty until the linesman raised his flag, before hitting the ball straight at the recovering Stefan Ortega after passing the goalkeeper.
Erling Haaland scored his first goal in five games for Man City to secure a hard-fought win
Savinho (centre) had scored the opening goal, his first in the competition for the champions
The victory eased the pressure on Pep Guardiola after he had won just once in nine games
Savinho then ensured City got going, as did his goal tally with the champions, with an emphatic rebound finish after Jakub Stolarczyk had spilled a Phil Foden strike.
Pep Guardiola’s men never looked completely comfortable during a hard-fought opening period and Facundo Buonanotte’s effort hit the post after some ping-pong in the penalty area.
The Foxes continued to threaten in the second half and when a corner was headed back to James Justin at the far post, the right-back’s shot was somehow cleared off the line by Manuel Akanji.
It was all hands on deck for City and Vardy let the champion off the hook with a strike that found the roof of the net when he should have scored.
But after looking rather lost in the lead again, it was Erling Haaland who eased the pressure on the away side with a trademark header.
McAtee had done a great job of shaking off his man before getting past Kevin de Bruyne, who found Savinho. The Brazilian then ran over an inviting cross that Haaland put away.
Leicester continued to push but a late Vardy header, painfully kept out by the woodwork, capped a frustrating afternoon for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men, ending in defeat and keeping them in the bottom three.
City, meanwhile, recorded their first league win in five and their first win away from home in eight games.