Manchester City vs Leicester City Preview

Premier League champions Manchester City will welcome Leicester City to the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day looking to take all three points.

In a rare event since Pep Guardiola took over at Man City, the Cityzens did not participate in the League Cup during midweek. Rather, they sat back and enjoyed a well deserved festive rest in preparation for this must-win game against Leicester City.

Guardiola’s side followed up their 7-0 drubbing of Leeds United with a 4-0 win over Newcastle in their last game. That result, followed by Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham solidified City’s grip on first place and ensured that they ended the Christmas break three points ahead of the rest.

They will now look to continue their dominance of the league when Leicester come visiting.

The hosts have been near-invincible since the end of the October international break winning their UEFA Champions League group and picking up ten wins in 11 Premier League (PL) games. Seven of those victories produced a margin of multiple goals.

They are currently on a run of four straight PL home wins and will fancy their chances of extending their lead at the top.

Meanwhile, after their disappointing loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, Leicester City will turn their attention to the Premier League looking to get back to winning ways.

The Foxes were thrown out of the League Cup in midweek by the Reds who beat them on penalties despite Brendan Rodgers’s men holding a 3-1 advantage in the first half.

That result extended their winless run away from home to five games and underlined the current struggles of Rodgers’ side, who are looking a shadow of themselves.

After 16 games, the visitors are sitting in ninth place, five points behind the top six places. A win here will do their poor away record so far some good (W2, D3, L3).

Meanwhile, the visitors’ Boxing Day record since their promotion to the PL in 2014 reads poorly (W1, D1, L5)  although there are mitigating circumstances with all of Leicester’s previous three Boxing Day fixtures being played against an eventual top-two side. Interestingly though, their sole win on this date following promotion came against Man City in 2018, although that win came on home turf.

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

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