Erling Haaland scores his 20th Premier League goal of the season as City pull away from Leeds

[ad_1]

With the wind gone, the pitch largely dried up, and the Elland Road crowd as hostile as ever, the conditions were favorable for Leeds, but if City had brought their shooting boots they might have defied last season’s 7-0 run against those Etihad rivals. In the first half alone. When Rodri finally got the ball down on the cusp of half-time, City’s 11th chance to score in the first 45 minutes was one-sided.

Grealish has only managed just one goal in 17 games this term – and you can see why. The worst of his three defeats came moments before Rodri scored when Lewis, excelling on and off the ball, flicked a pass through a narrow gap. That was the story of City’s first half – Meslier twice denied Erling Haaland and Ilkay Gundogan, who also missed a header from De Bruyne’s fine cross.

Fully aware of his links at Leeds, Haaland had escaped any attack from the home crowd and Calvin Phillips, who was warmly hailed by the locals on his first return to Elland Road since his £45m summer move, saw the funny side of the hilarious chants mocking the his waist circumference.

Phillips was initially dismissed by Guardiola after his World Cup return as “overweight” and Leeds fans didn’t miss the chance to have a little fun at the former midfielder’s expense. “You’re too fat to play Leeds” and “Calvin Phillips, eat whatever he wants” chants echoed. Grealish, though, wasn’t so lucky, taunting the England midfielder at every turn. For a while, especially as the bugs piled up, I wondered if the abuse was affecting him. But Grealish was never going to hide, and in the end, Leeds decided it was the only thing to stop him from kicking him. His second-half attack kicked off shortly after the restart when he intercepted a loose Liam Cooper pass to slash across goal and box for Haaland to get his mandatory goal. It was quite the answer.

It wasn’t long until Grealish got a second assist – and Haaland a second. Meslier got the ball when Haaland fired in from Grealish’s return and, like City’s first goal, will be disappointed not to clear it. On that occasion, City had passed the ball from back to front through Nathan Ake, Gundogan, De Bruyne and Rodri to Riyad Mahrez, who was saved before Rodri’s rebound crept past Meslier’s outstretched hand.

Leeds narrowed the gap when a corner kick from Sam Greenwood hit a header from Strick into the net, and substitute Joe Gelhardt approached, but the goal was very small and it was too late.

[ad_2]