Manchester City showed no mercy as injury-ravaged Leeds were thrashed 7-0 at the Etihad to hand them their heaviest ever Premier League defeat.
City nearly scored within three minutes when Bernardo Silva spurned an easy chance, but the home fans did not have to wait long. Phil Foden and Jack Grealish scored to put City, who had been 1-9 favourites to win the game, led 2-0 inside 15 minutes.
To add injury to insult, Marcelo Bielsa lost yet another player to injury when Jamie Shackleton limped off before half-time, shortly after Kevin De Bruyne had made it three.
Four followed after the break, a cruel deflection handing City fortune they did not need, and while VAR ruled out a fifth, it was only a brief delay before De Bruyne added his second.
Six and seven followed, defenders John Stones and Nathan Ake cashing in on a rich opportunity for goals.
Man City player ratings
Ederson – 7
Quiet day, to say the least.
Stones – 7
Deployed at right-back in an emergency, something he hasn’t done regularly since his days at Barnsley. He would have had a lot more work to do in those days and got on the scoresheet after a goalmouth scramble with Leeds well bloodied and beaten.
Dias – 7
Precious little to do but made the odd incisive move forward and pass between the lines.
Laporte – 7
Ambitious early run a long way up the pitch suggested he knew how little he would have to do at the back.
Zinchenko – 7
Probably had the hardest night of any City player as Jack Harrison found some success running at him, especially in the second half.
Foden – 8.5
Played a delicious through-ball that should have led to opener but Bernardo missed, before taking care of business himself to open the scoring. Earned the assist for the seventh too.
Rodri – 9
Run through set up first goal and again won the ball and drove through the middle to create more trouble. Not long after, it was his pass that set up De Bruyne for the third.
De Bruyne – 9
A nice way to return to a starting berth for City for the first time since 6 November, with a neat 32nd-minute finish giving his side a 3-0 lead. Nothing neat about his second though, given acres of time and space to smash the ball home from 25 yards.
Grealish – 8.5
Good early drive and shot showed intent, before a nice header to make it 2-0. Interchanged well with De Bruyne to suggest his relationship with the Belgian may be the key to finding his feet at City.
Bernardo Silva – 7
Baffling miss in seventh minute but showed some very neat feet to remind everyone why he is so highly regarded – and why the miss was such a shock. Was mostly quiet though on a night when others shone brighter. Withdrawn at half-time.
Mahrez – 9.5
Cross for Grealish header was inch-perfect, far more deliberate and deserved that his deflected shot that spun into the far corner. Fine ball to find Gundogan at the back post should have been finished off for another assist. A constant threat.
Subs
Gundogan – 7
Did everything you expect of a classy midfielder coming on at 3-0 up, except convert when a marvellous ball from Mahrez landed on his toe a few yards out.
Fernandinho – 7
Didn’t have a lot to do in terms of defending. Or attacking. Frankly there wasn’t a lot left in the game. If anything, looked a little off the pace, understandably.
Ake – 7.5
Powerful header after well worked set piece move where Stones blocked his runner to score his third City goal.
Reaction to follow.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3m5YYTT
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