Manchester City won for the first time in five Premier League games on Sunday after goals from Erling Haaland and Savinho earned a 2-0 victory at Leicester City in manager Pep Guardiola’s 500th game in charge.
The champions’ second win in 14 games across all competitions meant they climbed two spots to fifth place with 31 points, 11 behind leaders Liverpool who have two games in hand. Leicester remain in the relegation zone in 18th.
“We needed it, all of us,” Guardiola told Sky Sports. “Just relief, that is the word to express how all of us feel. We have done incredible things and now we struggle to win games so now it’s just relief.”
Savinho netted his first goal for City in the 21st minute when he pounced on a rebound from Phil Foden’s long shot after Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk pushed the ball into his path. The Brazilian fired into the roof of the net from a tight angle.
Haaland, who has two goals in eight league games in the worst stretch of his Premier League career, doubled City’s lead in the 74th minute when he headed home a looping cross from Savinho, who latched onto a pass from Kevin de Bruyne.
“Things happen and we have to keep going, we have to stay positive and focus on the right things,” Haaland said, before pushing Guardiola in the direction of the visiting fans who were chanting his name.
“It’s always a relief to score and that was an important goal to go 2-0 up.”
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The victory was far from a walkover, however.
Leicester fans screamed for a penalty early on when Jamie Vardy found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Stefan Ortega from a counter-attack. Ortega brought Vardy down in the box but Man City were saved by the offside flag.
Josko Gvardiol nearly cost Guardiola’s team a first-half goal with a disastrous header back to Ortega that was intercepted. City’s disorganised back line saw Facundo Buonanotte clatter a shot off the bar minutes later.
Leicester had another glorious chance early in the second half when Vardy headed into the box and James Justin got a touch on it that looked heading for the back of the net before Manuel Akanji cleared it off the line.
Vardy missed an absolute sitter when he launched a shot just over the bar from close range.
“It was tight in the second half, they were much better. We don’t have energy to sustain 90 minutes. Hopefully the New Year can help us bounce back,” Guardiola said.
“To get results you have to do something. To do it in the position we have, many good things happened today. It is not enjoyable right now, it is just relief. We have done incredible things for many years. It is not the best.”
Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy, who shared a long hug with Guardiola after the final whistle, told the BBC he has to judge his team’s performance as well as the result.
“I wouldn’t do the players credit if I didn’t. We’re professional, we know it’s about results but we have to look through that because of the performance today,” he said.
“We have to be judged on results and translate performances into results.”
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