Savinho and Erling Haaland scored to give Manchester City a much-needed 2-0 victory in the Premier League, in manager Pep Guardiola’s 500th game in charge, over Leicester City at King Power Stadium on Sunday.
The victory was City’s first win in five Premier League games.
City’s second win in 14 games across all competitions meant they climbed two spots to fifth place in the standings with 31 points, 11 behind leaders Liverpool who have two games in hand. Leicester remain in the danger zone in 18th place.
Savinho netted his first goal for City in the 21st minute when he pounced on a rebound from Phil Foden’s long shot after Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk pushed the ball into his path. The Brazilian fired into the roof of the net from a tight angle.
Haaland, who has just two goals in eight league games in his worst stretch of his Premier League career, doubled City’s lead in the 74th minute when he headed home a looping cross from Savinho, who latched onto a pass from Kevin de Bruyne.
Leicester fans screamed for a penalty early on when Jamie Vardy found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Stefan Ortega from a counter-attack. Ortega brought Vardy down in the box but Man City were saved by the offside flag.
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Josko Gvardiol nearly cost Guardiola’s team a first-half goal with a disastrous header back to Ortega that was intercepted. City’s disorganised back line saw Facundo Buonanotte clatter a shot off the bar minutes later.
Leicester had another glorious chance early in the second half when Vardy headed into the box and James Justin got a touch on it that looked headed into the back of the net before Manuel Akanji cleared it off the line.
Goals from Chris Wood and Morgan Gibbs-White gave Nottingham Forest a 2-0 win over Everton to move up to the heady heights of second in the Premier League after another superb performance away from home.
The win gave Forest, who battled relegation for much of last season, 37 points after 19 games. They are five behind leaders Liverpool, who have two games in hand and face West Ham United later on Sunday.
Forest are one ahead of third-placed Arsenal, who are not in action again until New Year’s Day, and two ahead of Chelsea, who can overtake them if they beat Ipswich Town on Monday.
Crystal Palace also edged bottom-placed Southampton 2-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday, securing their second home win in the Premier League thanks to goals from Eberechi Eze and Trevor Chalobah.
Struggling Tottenham Hotspur had to settle for a 2-2 home draw against a revived Wolverhampton Wanderers side after a late strike by Norwegian substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen.
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