Nerves were looking almost as shot as Alexis Sanchez around the annals of the Etihad ahead of last night’s match with Leicester City. The East Midlanders, under Brendan Rodgers, once a target for City’s embryonic youth academy, have become a much more difficult opponent to negotiate and for a stern seventy minutes last night this proved to be the case.
Guardiola put his trust in a midfield containing the old stager David Silva, the new stager Phil Foden and the unsigned Ilkay Gundogan. The opposing midfield had more beef than guile and it took City a long time to get on top in that area.