Leicester City’s pitiful fight for Premier League survival continued at Manchester City as they again lost without scoring.
City look dead and buried in the relegation battle, Ruud van Nistelrooy’s sitting 12 points behind 17th-placed Wolves and their performances failing to generate any hope of a miracle.
It’s now seven league matches in a row without scoring, a run that goes back to January and now equals a club record, and they mustered just one shot at the Etihad Stadium.
At the other end, they conceded to Jack Grealish inside two minutes while a calamitous mix-up between Mads Hermansen and Wout Faes gifted Omar Marmoush the second.
The game petered out very quickly in the second period, as if City are accepting of the fate that awaits them at the end of the season.
Van Nistelrooy named the same line-up for the third straight game, keeping faith with the 11 and the five-at-the-back system from the defeats to Chelsea and Manchester United.
He’d seen enough in those losses to suggest it was the best way forward for his team. But they couldn’t even last two minutes without conceding.
Wilfred Ndidi was robbed of possession by Jeremy Doku, who fed Savinho. The Brazilian cut the ball back to Grealish, who had found space away from Faes and Conor Coady for an easy finish.
It was the 25th time in 30 matches this season that City have conceded first. That’s never happened before in the Premier League.
In his programme notes, Pep Guardiola, banned from the touchline for the game, had said Leicester have a “unique set of qualities” that always make them a difficult opponent.
But in the first 45 minutes, they only mustered one shot, a speculative effort from Bilal El Khannouss, as they failed to find the net for a 13th straight half of Premier League football.
Their deep back-line had stopped Man City creating for the 25 minutes after Grealish’s opener, only for a disastrous defensive mix-up to gift a second to the hosts.
Ruben Dias clipped a ball over the top and Hermansen came out to claim the ball, but Faes had dropped deep to track Nico O’Reilly’s run and put off his goalkeeper, the Dane spilling and allowing Marmoush to finish into an empty net.
The chances came thick and fast after that. Marmoush had a goalbound effort blocked by Faes and Hermansen acrobatically tipped over Savinho’s effort with City struggling to keep Man City quiet on the wings.
Jamie Vardy, booked for a frustrated swipe at Marmoush in the first half, was replaced by Oliver Skipp at the break, and Facundo Buonanotte and Caleb Okoli were on soon after.
But there was no change to the momentum of the game. It was all Man City, although City did at least stop them creating chances.
In attack, there was nothing to get excited by for the travelling supporters. City are playing like they know their season is over. Here's how we scored the players.
Mads Hermansen: Faes was a distraction, but spilling the ball as the goalkeeper means he is still most culpable for the second goal. His kicking put City in trouble a few times too. He did make one good save from Savinho though. 3
James Justin: In the first half, he provided an outlet for the long switch in attack, and bar a 15-minute period at the end of the first half, kept Doku quiet. He was himself quiet in the second period though. 5
Wout Faes: Once again, he’s caused problems by dropping deeper than the rest of the defensive line, not for the first time this season. Besides that, he was okay, and was in the right place to block a goalbound Marmoush effort. 4
Conor Coady: One forward pass into Daka’s feet in the first half was a highlight, so it was a shame he didn’t produce more of those. Defensively, he marshalled the back-line well enough to restrict the Man City chances despite their domination of possession. 5
Luke Thomas: He could have closed down Savinho more effectively for the first Man City goal, but it was difficult to criticise his defending beyond that, even if does feel a little desperate at times. Didn’t show himself on the ball as much as against Man United. 5
Victor Kristiansen: He battled well when going forward and used the ball reasonably effectively. Defensively, there were too many times where Savinho dribbled past him, or escaped his attention when running off the ball. 4
Wilfred Ndidi: He lost the ball for the opening goal as Man City crowded him out, and it seemed like he was targeted for the quick press. He made good supporting runs down the right in the first half, but his crossing on every occasion was really poor. 3
Boubakary Soumare: There was one nice pass out to Justin but that was it in terms of positive involvements. Defensively, he seemed really slow to react to the danger, and did not cope when Man City attacked with speed. 3
Bilal El Khannouss: He played like he was trying to give the impression he was an excellent footballer, rather than just being one. He put Ndidi into an uncomfortable position for the first goal and then tried a few fancy flicks in bad areas. But even with all that, he did still look more of a threat than all of his team-mates. 4
Patson Daka: He gave energy at the very least, both in running forward and backwards, sprinting past his own midfield to get back and help the defence at times. Once again, attacking quality and threat was lacking. 4
Jamie Vardy: If this is to be his last year at City, it’s turning into a very sad end. He barely touched the ball, and when he did his control and lay-offs were poor. His frustration then boiled over and he clattered Marmoush to get himself booked, resulting in a half-time substitution. 3
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