"We played well because we did the most difficult thing in football - we just played simple," said Pep Guardiola. "That is the most difficult thing and we did it."
Saturday 21 December 2019 22:15, UK
Leicester City arrived at the Etihad Stadium as the new challengers on the block, the side that would rip Manchester City apart on the counter and underline their status as the main rivals to runaway leaders Liverpool.
But the Foxes left with their tails very much between their legs having been dealt a sobering reality check by the champions, who went back to basics to produce a timely reminder that they remain a Premier League force to be reckoned with.
City set about combating the Leicester threat the only way they know how, bombarding the Foxes' goal and striking the woodwork through Kevin de Bruyne, but with half an hour on the clock, the pre-match prophecy they had fought so hard against was coming to fruition.
Jamie Vardy, the chief scourge of Premier League defences this season, spared the champions no mercy. He gave Nicolas Otamendi the run around before he turned his attention to Fernandinho and left the Brazilian trailing in his wake as he marched into the City area and continued his hot streak in front of goal with arguably the pick of his 16 Premier League strikes this season.
Having come through the early City onslaught with a lead, Leicester were meant to stride on and underline their credentials as the chief challengers, but that idea was snuffed out emphatically before it even had the chance to take root.
Within six minutes Riyad Mahrez had haunted his former club as his strike deflected in off Caglar Soyuncu to draw the champions level. It was unfortunate on Leicester but Manchester City were more than deserving of a little bit of luck going their way after such an imperious start.
And the Foxes' hopes of seeking refuge during the interval we extinguished when Ilkay Gundogan punished Ricardo Pereira's uncharacteristically rash challenge on Raheem Sterling to complete the turnaround from the penalty spot.
Gabriel Jesus secured the victory with City's third 20 minutes from time and manager Pep Guardiola would describe the performance as the most pleasing he's presided over this season.
"When we can control [the ball], we can we play how we did today," he said. "We were incredibly aggressive without the ball and how we pressed as well.
"But we played well because we did the most difficult thing in football - we just played simple. That is the most difficult thing and we did it.
"We had one or two touches, passed the ball and after that the rest came along and then the quality of the players we had [came to the fore].
"I'm really pleased, I'm a spectator like the fans and like to see my team play in that way, and that was so good."
Leicester were unbeaten in their previous 11 games in all competitions but ended up conceding more than three goals in a Premier League game for the first time in 28 matches, and it could have been worse had it not been for some inspired moments from Schmeichel.
For Brendan Rodgers, the chastening defeat showed exactly where his group of players are at this moment in time in terms of sustaining a title challenge - not quite there yet.
"Against that level of opponent, it was a good lesson for us," the Foxes boss said.
"The fact we're still ahead of City shows how well we've done [this season], but there's a lot of learning for us.
"There are no complaints about the result from me. In the first half we weren't good at all. We were a little more like ourselves in the second half, but it showed there's a long way to go for this group of young players.
"But the players have been brilliant. If you asked me in August when we started, would you take second in the league and the semi-final of the first cup competition, we would have taken it. And yet we've still got so much to improve on."
