Manchester City has only two games left in the English Premier League this season, and their goal is clear: win them both to retain the title.
The first opponent is Leicester, and the reigning champions will host them on Monday night.
On the surface, there shouldn’t be any doubts that Manchester City will win this match with ease. The reigning champions have the best attack in the EPL and an exceptional defense. They can keep the ball all day long.
And yet, we’ve already seen a couple of times this season when the pressure played tricks on Guardiola and the players. They have struggled to win similar games against the likes of Newcastle and Crystal Palace.
Their usual dominance on the pitch is not exactly there, but the team has still managed to win 12 matches in a row. It’s an impressive run that should continue against Leicester, but I think it will be more difficult than most people expect.
The main reason is that the visitors can defend and hit on the counter. At the same time, Man City is not exactly scoring for fun recently, mostly because of the insane pressure from Liverpool.
Thanks to Kun Aguero’s goal Manchester City recorded a very important win over Burnley at Turf Moor.
The Citizens extended their winning run in the Premier League to twelve games, but coach Pep Guardiola must warn his men against complacency as Leicester City impressed in a 3-0 win over Arsenal at the weekend.
Pep Guardiola’s troops are still only one point clear of Liverpool in the Premier League standings, meaning that they face a must-win situation against the Foxes.
Leicester City recorded five wins in previous seven league fixtures, but seeing that the Citizens have been impressive at their Etihad Stadium in the 2018/2019 season, we are positive that the visitors are going to return home empty-handed.
Jamie Vardy impressed in the 3-0 victory over Arsenal in their last league clash, meaning that the opposition defenders should have him at bay.
Up to a couple of weeks ago, everybody was talking about a historical quadruple. Manchester City already won the League Cup and is the overwhelming favorite in the FA Cup final.
However, one of the big prizes is already gone. The team was knocked out of the Champions League by the Spurs in a dramatic fashion. If the club misses out on the EPL title too, the season will be labeled as a failure.
It might seem absurd on some level, but with so much money spent in the past couple of years, Guardiola is under pressure to win either the UCL or the EPL every year.
The Spaniard is still in a great position to regain the English crown. Only Leicester and Brighton are on City’s path to glory, but you can see that every game will be a fight from now on.
Five of their last six wins in the EPL have been by the score of 1-0 or 2-0. The reigning champions are struggling to find the net as often as they are used to.
Every team is defending fiercely against them, and the stress is messing with the players’ heads.
One could argue that the last part applies to the manager, too. A close look at the substitutions in the last match against Burnley shows that Guardiola replaced Aguero with Stones and Sterling with Otamendi.
It’s a win-at-all-costs situation for the club, and it will be the same against Leicester unless Liverpool fails to beat Newcastle on Saturday.
The good news is that Manchester City’s defense has been extremely reliable in the EPL recently. The team has managed to keep a clean sheet in most games, which could be the key to success.
I expect more of the same against Leicester, who can certainly hurt anyone on the counter.
Guardiola knows that and will stick to the same approach as in the last couple of games: keep the ball, don’t let the opponent create any chances, and trust your forwards to score at least once.
It will be interesting to see if De Bruyne and Fernandinho will be ready to play, as both missed the Burnley clash.
I expect to see at least one of them for this match, but at this moment, there is no clear indication of what will happen.
HEA D-TO-HEAD
Leicester City (51) Manchester City (52)
Results Total % Results Total %
Leicester City 18 9.18 Man City 31 16.12
Man City 14 7.14 Leicester City 8 4.16
Draws 19 9.69 Draws 13 6.63
Goals Total Av.pg Goals Total Av.pg
Leicester City 78 1.53 Man City 129 2.48
Man City 66 1.29 Leicester City 62 1.19
