Manchester City progressed comfortably to the next round of the Capital One Cup as they cruised past a distinctly unthreatening Leicester City with ease.
Leicester City vs. Manchester City: Final score 1-3, Foxes no match for Dzeko & co
Manchester City weren’t really tested as they cruised to the easiest of 3-1 wins against a poor Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
Mike Hewitt
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Aleksandar Kolarov opened the scoring earlier, before an Edin Dzeko brace put the game beyond the hosts, although Lloyd Dyer managed to claw back a consolation goal.
City had an early chance when Dzeko found Jack Rodwell’s run to leave him clean through, but Kasper Schmeichel made himself big to deny the Englishman from scoring the opener. Yet the visitors were dominant, and took just eight minutes to turn their advantage into something tangible through Aleksandar Kolarov. The Serbian left-back stepped up to send in a free-kick and curled a brilliant effort into the top corner which Schmeichel could not keep out despite getting a touch.
City then suffered a setback as Pablo Zabaleta walked off with what appeared to be an injury to his hamstring, leading to his replacement by Dedryck Boyata. Yet in the actual game, City weren't troubled. Kolarov and Dzeko were causing Leicester all sorts of problems, the former finding the latter for a finish which Schmeichel managed to keep out with his groin, before the left-back's rasping drive was also well-saved by the Dane.
Leicester were still offering very little in the game though, with nobody except Schmeichel playing particularly well, misplacing passes and making heavy touches to invite pressure upon themselves. It was no surprise when Dzeko made it 2-0 shortly afterwards after being found with a dinked cross by James Milner at the far post, crashing a header in off the turf.
After half-time, little changed for either side, and City put the game beyond the hosts after just a few minutes, Milner again finding Dzeko from the left -- the Bosnian’s finish was mishit, but it still had enough on it to beat Schmeichel and leave City three goals in the lead.
Leicester managed to get a consolation goal through Lloyd Dyer shortly afterwards, however, after Paul Konchesky picked him out and he beat Joe Hart at his near post thanks to a deflection off Vincent Kompany. Yet the chances of a comeback for the hosts were looking decidedly slim, with only 16 minutes left on the clock. Leicester looked like they wouldn't have done so if they had all the time in the world, and so it proved -- a simple win for City, who are now a step closer to their first silverware under Manuel Pellegrini.
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