Manchester City have recorded a difficult win during a visit to Leicester City. Without the injured top scorer Erling Haaland, Pep Guardiola’s side won 1-0, overtaking Premier League leaders Arsenal. The Londoners meet at their own home of Nottingham Forest last Sunday.

Leicester City, 2016 champions, are just above the relegation zone and are in dire need of the points. A stunt against the current champions would be a nice bonus and the home side hoped to achieve that by keeping things closed in the back first and foremost.

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Indeed, Manchester City had the greatest difficulty finding a hole in the blue defence, although goalkeeper Danny Ward had to act on opportunities from Rodri and Bernardo Silva. It wasn’t until midway through the first half that Leicester crossed the halfway line for the first time. Ederson prevented Harvey Barnes from opening against the proportions in the score.

Manchester City managed to break the spell shortly after the break. Rodri had previously shot the ball just wide when Kevin De Bruyne sent a free-kick towards the square. The ball hit the inside post: 0:1. It had been more than two years since the Belgian had netted from a set piece with the velvet kick.

At least as nice was the volley from outside the penalty area by Youri Tieleman, who took the ball on his slipper after a corner. However, a wonderful equalizer stood in the way of a nice reflex from Ederson and the latte.

With twenty minutes to go, Leicester, helped by some attacking substitutions and stimulus from the stands, crawled out of the bowl more forcefully. There were chances, but the desired result never came.