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Man City draw leaves Leicester level with Arsenal on top

| 30.12.2015
SPORTSBOOK ODDS

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

Britain Soccer Premier League

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

Leicester City v Manchester City - Barclays Premier League - King Power Stadium

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.

Leicester City v Manchester City - Barclays Premier League - King Power Stadium

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.

Related

What a year 2015 has been in Premier League football, so why not relive it all by visiting Coral’s extensive archives?

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Author

Jamie Clark

Athletics aficionado, die-hard snooker fan and Crystal Palace supporter Jamie has written for Coral since February 2014 after spells with Soccerlens and the Press Association as a digital journalist and copywriter. A former East Midlands sports correspondent and Bwin tipster, he is a graduate of both the University of York and University of Sheffield, with a Masters in web journalism from the latter.