Leeds 1-3 Man City: Player ratings as Citizens move back into second
Manchester City cut Arsenal's lead at the top of the Premier League to five points as they beat Leeds 3-1 at Elland Road.
City started on the front foot immediately, and Erling Haaland had a fine early chance. He was unable to force the ball home though.
Haaland got an even better chance shortly afterwards when Kevin De Bruyne sent him clear, but Illan Meslier was able to smother his tame effort.
However, Haaland was far from the most wasteful player in the Man City lineup. Jack Grealish had three great chances in the first 45 minutes but managed to blaze all three over when he should have done better.
Just as the first half appeared to be sauntering to a stalemate, the deadlock was broken. De Bruyne burst into space down the left and Rodri turned the ball in after another good save from Meslier.
That opened things up for the second half, and both Grealish and Haaland arrived at the party.
They combined just six minutes after the restart to allow Haaland to double the lead, and they repeated that trick 12 minutes later to put the game largely beyond doubt.
To their credit, Leeds did not give up, and they kept looking for a way into the game. They got some reward for that when Pascal Struijk headed home a fine Sam Greenwood corner, and they continued to push for more.
It wasn't to be, though, and Man City were able to kill the game and pick up a valuable three points that keeps the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Leeds player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Illan Meslier – 7/10 – Kept Leeds in it for most of the first half.
RB: Rasmus Kristensen – 5/10 – Struggled at times, especially in the second half.
CB: Robin Kock – 5/10 – Didn’t offer much resistance.
CB: Liam Cooper – 5/10 – Had trouble dealing with Haaland’s movement, but we can forgive him that.
LB: Pascal Struijk – 5/10 – Not his most influential game, but scored a nice header.
CM: Marc Roca – 5/10 – Very wasteful with the ball at times.
CM: Adam Forshaw – 6/10 – Offered at least some resistance for a while.
CM: Sam Greenwood – 6/10 – Battled manfully but overrun at times. Fine assist on the Leeds goal.
RF: Brenden Aaronson – 5/10 – Flashes of quality but saw little of the ball.
CF: Rodrigo – 4/10 – Totally ineffectual although in fairness he was very isolated.
LF: Wilfried Gnonto – 6/10 – A rare bright spark in the Leeds attack.
Substitutes
Luke Ayling (65’ for Kristensen) – N/A
Mateusz Klich (66’ for Forshaw) – N/A
Joe Gelhardt (72’ for Rodrigo) – N/A
Diego Llorente (72’ for Cooper) – N/A)
Darko Gyabi (83' for Aaronson) - N/A
Manager: Jesse Marsch - 5/10 - Never really managed to make a game of it.
Manchester City player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Ederson – 6/10 – Didn’t have an awful lot to do in truth.
RB: Rico Lewis – 7/10 – A very dynamic performance from the youngster.
CB: John Stones – 6/10 – Not really tested.
CB: Manuel Akanji – 6/10 – Ditto Stones, really. Easy night for him.
LB: Nathan Ake – 6/10 – Not much of a factor from an attacking point of view but very neat and tidy.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 7/10 – Quietly authoritative in the midfield.
CM: Rodri – 7/10 – Broke the deadlock and was immensely assured throughout.
CM Kevin De Bruyne – 8/10 – Constant menace on the ball.
RF: Riyad Mahrez - 6/10 – Not at his best but didn’t need to be.
CF: Erling Haaland – 9/10 – Uncharacteristically wasteful in the first half, but brilliant overall. Could have easily had more goals. Probably should have.
LF: Jack Grealish – 7/10 – Scoring really isn’t his thing. Came to the party in a creative sense after the break though.
Substitutes
Joao Cancelo (’68 for Lewis) -N/A
Phil Foden (73’ for Grealish)
Cole Palmer (88' for Mahrez)
Manager: Pep Guardiola - 7/10 - His side were nit at their best, but they were good enough.