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Manchester City secured three crucial points against the high-flying Leicester City in a Premier League fixture which ended 3-1 in the Citizens' favour.
Pep Guardiola's men played one of their best games of the season, as they claimed victory at the Etihad Stadium in their first home game since their crushing 2-1 defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Manchester United earlier in the month.
The Citizens looked dangerous going forward every time the trio of Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez had the ball at their feet. The Belgian midfielder, who scored two in his previous Premier League outing against Arsenal last weekend, had the first crack at the opposition goal when his shot found the outside of the right post in the 14th minute.
Although it was the visitors who drew first blood, via another impressive goal from the evergreen Jamie Vardy in the 22nd minute, Mahrez equalised for the home side with a good finish eight minutes later. Manchester City took the lead in the 43rd minute after Ilkay Gundogan converted a penalty, while Gabriel Jesus scored in the 69th minute to double their advantage.
Here are the three reasons which led to a comfortable victory for the reigning champions against the Foxes.
#3 Manchester City were unrelenting in attack
If the Citizens' performance against Arsenal was impressive last weekend, their display against a Leicester City side, who were four points above them in the standings and had the meanest defence in the league, was simply out of this world.
The players in the attacking third, especially Mahrez, Sterling and De Bruyne moved around the ball very comfortably in the first half and started finding spaces behind the Foxes' defence.
Although Sterling and De Bruyne have captured our imaginations through their scintillating performances this season, it was the former Leicester star Mahrez, who was the most outstanding player against his former employers.
Not only did the Algerian forward equalise for the hosts, but it was his quick feet and absolute dominance over Ben Chilwell in the right-flank that opened up the game for Manchester City. For all of City's goals, the moves started from the right flank.
The Citizens recorded 23 shots on goal, out of which 12 were on target. They also completed double the number of passes as compared to the visitors and enjoyed 64% of the possession as well.
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#2 Pep Guardiola's tactics limited Leicester City's attacking options
Pep Guardiola is a very shrewd manager. He knows just when to increase the tempo of the game and when to take control of the proceedings by keeping possession.
He made the most of the pace and creativity of Mahrez and Sterling throughout the game, instructing his defenders and midfielders to just get the ball through to the wide players, which they managed to do quite easily.
The consequence of this incessant flow of attacks from the flanks was that the visitors became too preoccupied dealing with the threats, which left them with no other option than testing the home side's defence on counter-attacks, with striker Vardy being their key man.
Although Brendan Rodgers' side did score the opener from a devastating counter, in all they managed only five shots on goal, out of which only two were on target.
The infamous tactical fouls also played a part in the fixture, with goalscorer Gundogan even receiving a yellow card for his late tackle on Vardy in the second half.
Also see: Why Leicester City can sustain their title challenge
#1 Manchester City attackers dominated the key battles against Leicester City defenders
In a game that promised to be an electrifying affair, it was the hosts' frontline that took our breath away.
Mahrez was a force of nature on that right-flank and caused all sorts of problem to Chilwell, who just couldn't figure out a way to deal with the Algerian forward. Mahrez came close to scoring again, not once but twice, after cutting in behind the English defender.
Not only did the former Leicester City man get the better of his marker on multiple occasions, De Bruyne too popped up in the space between the central defenders and was especially dominant on the usually reliant Caglar Soyuncu.
Their pace was the main feature that caught the opposition defence off-guard, which was looking tired from their midweek League Cup win against Everton on penalties.
Sterling won the penalty in the first half, following Ricardo Periera's late tackle, but a close analysis of the buildup to the foul indicates that it was the home side top goalscorer's quick feet and movement that forced the error from the right-back.
In all, it was their sublime attacking football that helped the host to cut down the gap between them and Liverpool to 11 points as they wrapped up the game with ease.
