City Face League leaders at Etihad stadium

Battle of the best

 Manchester City faces their first real test of the young season this weekend when they host Leicester City on Sunday.

The Foxes have been a smashing success early on with victories over West Brom 3-0 and 4-2 over Burnley last week.

The Blues are coming off a busy week where they defeated Wolves 3-1 and edged Bournemouth 2-1 in the Carabao Cup.

Leicester is a perfect 2-0 on the season as they look to return to the top of English football as they did in 2015/16.

City has a 100 percent record thus far too and is hoping to build off an impressive showing at Wolves on Monday.

Last season

 Manchester City has won the last three league meetings between these teams including a 1-0 victory from a late Gabriel Jesus strike for the Citizens last year.

The last time Leicester beat the Blues was on Boxing Day 2018 by a score of 2-1.

Lineup notes

 Pep Guardiola’s had two very different teams line up this week, with an injection of youth featuring for the Blues in their Carabao Cup tie on Thursday.

Sergio Aguero is still on the shelf with a knee injury.

Liam Delap was impressive in the Carabao Cup this week scoring once and playing the full 90 minutes.

We may see him off the substitutes bench if the Blues need a spark Sunday.

Aymeric Laporte is back training with City but likely won’t be fit to play just yet.

Laporte is one of many City players still recovering from an illness or injury.

Ilkay Gundogan also tested positive for COVID and likely won’t be ready either.

Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko are questionable.

Brendan Rogers will be without Wilfred Ndidi, the Nigerian could be gone at least 6-10 weeks.

Stats

 Manchester City has not lost in their last six matches in the Premiership, winning three of those fixtures by a score of 5-0.

In a half dozen league games Pep Guardiola’s men have scored 24 goals while only conceding 2.

Leicester have won three of their last five Premier League fixtures but have struggled of late away from home.

Before their opening day victory at West Brom, the Foxes had failed to win their last eight contests on the road going back to last season.

These teams pack a lot of punch as they’ve both found the back of the net in four of their last six fixtures.

Players to Watch

 When we look at Man City it starts with Kevin De Bruyne.

Last season’s PFA Player of the Year is off to a flying start in the early going with a goal and an assist in their opening match.

Phil Foden has been riding a hot streak for the Blues as well with 2 goals in his last 2 games including the game-winner Thursday in the Carabao Cup.

Nathan Aké will be a key player to watch for City at the back as he faces perhaps his greatest challenge in shutting down a prolific Leicester attack.

Jamie Vardy is a threat to score at all times when he suits up for Leicester.

He was the Premier League’s top scorer last season with 23 goals and already has two in the new campaign.

Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus will face a formidable Leicester defense that boasts full-backs James Justin and Castagne.

Keys to victory

For City, they’ll rely on keeping possession to avoid the quick-strike ability the Foxes have shown.

The Blues had a strong showing in the opening match Monday but they had a stretch in the second half where Wolves put them under intense pressure.

Give Leicester the same kind of opportunities and they will make you pay.

The Foxes were humbled in midweek as well losing 2-0 to Arsenal at the Carabao Cup.

Aké and Stones will need to show more consistency at the back on Sunday.

Leicester’s Denis Praet will be out to prove he’s not the only Belgian midfielder who can make plays.

Harvey Barnes is still raw at 22 but has been turning some heads with his performances as well.

The battle between De Bruyne and Praet will be one to watch.

This will be City’s third game in a week so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of lineup Guardiola puts out there. (JSL)