City halt Leicester’s title charge

Manchester City closed to within one point of second-placed Leicester with a 3-1 win at the Etihad on Saturday.

Brendan Rodgers’s men arrived in Manchester on an 11-match unbeaten run, but were outclassed throughout despite taking the lead through Jamie Vardy.

City had been carved open routinely in losing their last home game to Manchester United, but did not learn their lesson as Vardy extended his lead as the Premier League’s top scorer by racing onto Harvey Barnes’s excellent through ball before dinking over the advancing Ederson for his 17th of the season on 22 minutes.

But it was still City who were creating the majority of the chances and they finally got their reward eight minutes later when Riyad Mahrez’s shot struck Caglar Soyuncu and wrong-footed Kasper Schmeichel.

City pressure paid off just before the break when Ricardo Pereira was penalised for tripping Raheem Sterling inside the area despite replays showing there was minimal contact between the two.

Iklay Gundogan made no mistake from the spot to put the hosts ahead for the first time in the encounter.

City’s dominance was finally rewarded with the two-goal cushion they craved 21 minutes from time when playmaker Kevin De Bruyne burst down the right and his low cross was perfectly measured for Jesus to tap home.