Kevin de Bruyne scored a brace while Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, John Stones and Nathan Ake got on the score sheet to help City take a four point lead at the top of the points table.
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Manchester City displayed ruthless attacking game as they demolished Leeds United 7-0 in the Premier League fixture at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday. Kevin de Bryune who was making his first league start since recovering from COVID-19 scored a brace while Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, John Stones and Nathan Ake got on the score sheet to help City take a four point lead at the top of the points table. Meanwhile the defeat raises fresh questions over Marcelo Bielsa, his players and their ability to navigate their survival battle they find themselves in.
Grealish set the tone inside the opening two minutes as he powered through the Leeds defence to test Illan Meslier, from then on City were absolutely unstoppable. Few minutes later, Bernardo Silva missed a sitter in front of goal but Foden opened the scoring inside 8 minutes. Rodri’s marauding run into the box forced a smothering save from Meslier, but the rebound fell to Foden on the edge of the area. The English midfielder guided it into the net to take the lead. It was City’s 5o0th goal under Pep Guardiola.
Five minutes later, another followed. De Bruyne’s shot was deflected off for a corner. The resulting set-piece from Mahrez wasn’t cleared properly and it fell back to him on the right flank. The Algerian sent in a beautiful inswinging cross for Grealish to head home past Meslier.
Before the half-hour mark, De Bruyne tested Meslier from outside the box. The Belgian playmaker was looking sharp and scored his first of the night in the 32nd minute. Rodri played a brilliant through ball to release De Bruyne on the left side of the penalty area. The 30-year-old slotted the ball past Meslier at the near post to make it 3-0 for City.
After the break, City continued from where it had left off as Mahrez made it 4-0 in the 49th minute. The 30-year-old cut inside from the right before unleashing a low shot that deflected off Junior Firpo and ended up at the far bottom corner.
Meanwhile at the other end, Leeds threatened the City goal for a brief period as Dallas struck the post from outside the box. But soon City got the ball at the other end. Ilkay Gundogan was inches away from adding another for City as his effort from Mahrez’ floating cross went just wide.
However, the hosts scored their fifth of the night in the 62nd minute as De Bruyne smashed the ball past Meslier and into the roof of the net from outside the box. Stones made it 6-0 in the 74th minute. Aymeric Laporte’s header from Fernandinho’s cross was saved by Meslier but the rebound fell to Stones whose initial shot was blocked but the Englishman fired the ball into the roof of the net with his second attempt. Ake completed the drubbing with a powerful header from a corner 12 minutes from time.
PEP ? Yeah, we played a really good game.
We dropped five points against Leeds last season with the same guys we had today except Jack.
It was a good game. The vibe at the stadium was phenomenal! pic.twitter.com/1zcLKEEv43
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 14, 2021
Guardiola said after the match: “We lost five points last season playing Leeds. We tried to prepare well and maybe the players felt it was a more serious team than people think about.
“Our goals conceded is amazing. It proves you don’t have to defend so deep, but this club is creative and the club buys players to be creative.
“We didn’t score as many goals this season but today was a good run to be close to Liverpool and Chelsea.”
