Leeds vs Man City: Player ratings and analysis as City reclaim top spot from Liverpool with win at Elland Road

Leeds 0-4 Man City (Rodri 13′, Ake 54′, Jesus 78′, Fernandinho 90+3′)

Manchester City reclaimed pole position in the Premier League table with a comfortable win against Leeds, a few hours after being temporarily dislodged by title rivals Liverpool.

The pressure on both sides was ramped up due to results elsewhere earlier in the day. Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Newcastle at St James’ Park saw them leapfrog Pep Guardiola’s men into pole position, while Burnley’s dramatic comeback victory at Vicarage Road moved them level on points with Jesse Marsch’s side while also pushing them down to 17th.

Leeds’ supporters sought to unnerve their visitors by creating a hostile atmosphere inside Elland Road and they almost had an early goal to cheer when Joao Cancelo inadvertently played Rodrigo through on goal. The Spaniard lacked the acceleration to dart clear, though, and after a moment’s hesitation, his shot was blocked by the covering Ilkay Gundogan.

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City managed to quieten the home faithful, albeit temporarily, 10 minutes later by taking the lead through Rodri. The Spain midfielder guided his header impressively into the bottom corner, but the goal was all about the quality of the assist from Phil Foden, who flighted a perfect cross into the six-yard-box for Rodri to attack.

Not for the first time, questions will be asked over whether football’s attitude and protocols towards head injuries need to be assessed after Aymeric Laporte and Robin Koch played on following a sickening clash in the first half. Both players received treatment for over two minutes and Laporte lay stationary on the pitch for the duration of that time as he was examined by Manchester City’s medical team.

There was another lengthy stoppage at the end of the half which ended with Stuart Dallas being stretchered off with what looked like a serious knee injury after he had fouled Jack Grealish. Dallas has started in all 72 of Leeds’ Premier League games since their promotion in 2020 but will almost certainly miss their final few fixtures of the season.

Player ratings

Leeds (5-4-1): I Meslier 5 – St Dallas 5 (D James 6), L Ayling 5, R Koch 5, P Struijk 6, J Firpo 4 (J Gelhardt 6) – Raphinha 6, K Phillips 6, M Klich 5, J Harrison 5 – Rodrigo 6

Man City (4-3-3): Ederson 7 – J Cancelo 6, R Dias 7, A Laporte 7, N Ake 7 (O Zinchenko 6) – I Gundogan 7, Rodri 8 (B Silva 6), P Foden 8 (Fernandinho 7) – G Jesus 8, R Sterling 6, J Grealish 7

Following a frantic first half, City controlled the game much better after the break and doubled their lead early in the second, again from a set-piece. Ruben Dias won his duel at the back post and nodded down to Nathan Ake to smuggle home his second of the campaign. Perhaps surprisingly given their reputation as a passing side, City have scored more set-piece goals (18) than any other Premier League side in 2021-22.

Ake hobbled off soon after which could exacerbate City’s injury issues in defence ahead of the Champions League second leg against Real Madrid, with John Stones and Kyle Walker already sidelined.

With the chances of mounting a comeback slim, Leeds supporters took to chucking multi-coloured pieces of card onto the pitch, mainly in the direction of Jack Grealish, who enjoyed one of his better games in a City shirt. Bizarrely, some decided to target Raphinha as he took a corner too, much to the Brazilian’s understandable bemusement.

Gabriel Jesus made absolutely sure of the points 12 minutes from time, scoring his sixth goal in the space of seven days with a well-taken finish after being put through on goal by Foden before substitute Fernandinho made it four in stoppage time with a crisp finish from the edge of the box.

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