Man City draw leaves Leicester level with Arsenal on top
Leicester City 0-0 Manchester City
- Schmeichel saves stop Sterling scoring
- Hart has to keep out Foxes pair Vardy and Fuchs
- Point apiece leaves title race open
Shared spoils in King Power clash
Leicester City go behind Arsenal at the top of the Premier League on goal difference, with the high-fliers held to a goalless draw by Manchester City on home soil.
Man City set up to give the Foxes a dose of their own direct football medicine, with Raheem Sterling sought in-behind the home defence on numerous occasions, but with no breakthrough.
First, the England forward pulled back to Kevin De Bruyne, who forced a parrying save from Kasper Schmeichel, but then Sterling himself drew a more testing stop from Leicester’s number one on the slide.
Right back Bacary Sagna often proved the original source of these back-to-front attacks from the visiting Sky Blues, while Schmeichel tipped over again from Sterling on half an hour.
Ranieri makes a tactical tweak
The Foxes, meanwhile, found leading marksman Jamie Vardy left an isolated figure by a change of shape with no strike partner alongside him, though he lashed over moments after a Christian Fuchs cross got over to Marc Albrighon. All he could find was the side-netting from an oblique angle, however.
Sergio Aguero, back leading the Man City attack, saw almost every attempt he had on goal blocked by a backs-to-the-wall home defence. Yaya Toure sought to follow up the latest of four efforts from the Argentine early in the second-half, but also found no way through.
N’Golo Kante tried his luck from range when a clever Vardy run occupied two defenders, and the dipping strike fell just wide from Leicester’s unsung midfield hero.
Leicester lifted in second-half
Foxes boss Claudio Ranieri may have shed his ‘Tinkerman’ tabloid nickname, but had switched tactics for this fixture with a lone frontman in Vardy, yet gave him company in the form of Leonardo Ulloa.
Manuel Pellegrini also looked to his bench in search of a winner with Wilfried Bony on for Aguero, but the Ivory Coast striker blasted high, wide and handsome when off-balance.
Danny Drinkwater, who had returned to the Leicester lineup, slipped in Vardy and he fired straight at Joe Hart from a narrowing angle. Man City and England’s number one found Fuchs’ strike more challenging when the quiet Riyad Mahrez tapped a free-kick to the Austria wing back.
Title race continues to enthrall
Honours ending even does little to clarify anything about where the Premier League crown is going, as it remains a three-horse race between Leicester, Man City and the Gunners.
Arsenal remain in the driving seat as Coral’s 5/4 title favourites, while the Etihad outfit (6/4) are up to third but one win behind Arsene Wenger’s men. The Foxes (14/1) remain a surprise package that must maintain their position as well as their squad in 2016.
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