Manchester City reasserted their title credentials by thrashing Leeds United 7-0 to win their seventh game in a row and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points.
After Stuart Dallas’ awful goal-line clearing effort, City were two up after 13 minutes, with Phil Foden’s opening – the 500th Premier League goal of Pep Guardiola’s reign – finding the net, before Jack Grealish added a quickfire second with his maiden Premier League header.
Kevin De Bruyne, making his first league appearance since November 6, completed a magnificent first-half showing with an unerring third just after the half-hour mark, putting Leeds’ threadbare defensive line and dubious tactics to the test once again.
The goals kept coming in the second half, with Riyad Mahrez’s deflected fourth and De Bruyne’s breathtaking thunderbolt making it five, before late goals from John Stones and Nathan Ake sealed the victory and put the pressure on City’s championship rivals Chelsea and Liverpool, who also play on Thursday.
Leeds won their last visit to the Etihad Stadium, but the manner of this humiliating setback, regardless of the club’s current defensive injury issue, creates new doubts about Marcelo Bielsa, his players, and their ability to manage this survival struggle.
