MY ACCOUNT
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola paid tribute to Leicester City for playing their part in the epic 6-3 Boxing Day thriller at the Etihad Stadium.
The Premier League champions moved six points clear at the top of the table, but they were given a scare by the Foxes.
Guardiola’s side raced into a 4-0 lead inside 25 minutes, only for Leicester to reduce the deficit to a single goal after striking three times in the space of 10 second-half minutes.
However, further goals from Aymeric Laporte and Raheem Sterling – his second of the game – eventually sealed a ninth consecutive top-flight victory for City.
Guardiola reflected on a “weird” and highly entertaining seventh successive home Boxing Day win for the leaders.
“It was a Boxing Day game. It was a nice game to watch and three more points. We keep going,” he told BBC Sport.
“The quality of players we have produced this amount of actions to score goals. No manager and tactics can solve it without the quality.
“It was weird. Even at 4-0 in the first half, every time they had the ball, they arrived in the final third delivering good passes. They have a lot of quality; they are a master of counter-attacks.
“They changed in the second half. They didn’t play to press high. They were close.
“The game was so dangerous. We didn’t play bad in the second half. The game was not over. With set-pieces, we could win the game.”
Sterling found the net for the fourth successive Premier League match; doing so for the first time since between August and September 2017.
The England international was also full of praise for the spirit demonstrated by the Foxes.
“The manager warned us at half-time,” he said.
“Leicester conceded four in the first half but every time they attacked, they created chances.
“It’s disappointing. We just had to control the game. At 4-0 up, you have to kill the game.
“Leicester have some really good players. They didn’t get disheartened and kept going; Credit to them.”
