Football: Leicester handed humbling loss by City

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22 Dec, 2019 04:00 PM2 mins to read

From left: Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, goalkeeper Ederson and Nicolas Otamendi. Photo / AP

If any team have a chance of stopping Liverpool marching to a first English league title in 30 years, it looks to be Manchester City rather than Leicester.

City gave a timely reminder of their champion qualities by coming from a goal behind to beat Leicester 3-1 yesterday in a match between the teams who are closest to runaway leader Liverpool in the standings.

Second-place Leicester stayed 10 points behind Liverpool, who weren't in Premier League action this weekend because of their involvement in the Club World Cup in Qatar, and are now only one point ahead of City.

On this evidence, it's City who have the quality to pounce if Liverpool do slip up.

The defending champions conceded against the run of play — Jamie Vardy scoring, almost inevitably, on the counterattack for a league-leading 17th goal of the season — but played some breathtaking, high-energy football to hand Leicester their first league defeat in 10 games dating to October 5.

"Tonight is a good lesson for us of the work we still need to do to get to the level City are at," said Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, who described the match as a "humbling" experience.

The Premier League is nearly half a season old, and Sheffield United and Wolverhampton Wanderers are still managing to keep up their unlikely bids for Champions League qualification.

Sheffield United climbed to fifth place with a 1-0 win at Brighton that preserved their unbeaten away record since returning to the top flight this season.

Oli McBurnie scored the only goal against Brighton after latching on to a long clearance from goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

New coaches Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta watched their respective Everton and Arsenal sides play out a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park.

Wolves are a point and a place behind after rallying for a 2-1 victory at Norwich while Southampton climbed out of the relegation zone at the expense of Aston Villa by beating their relegation rival 3-1, thanks to two goals by Danny Ings. The teams started the match level on points.

Miguel Almiron finally scored for Newcastle in his 27th game for the club in a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.