Man City Seek to Consolidate Top Spot with Leicester Visit

Premier League leaders-Manchester City would be seeking to consolidate their position on the table as Pep Guardiola’s men welcome an inconsistent Leicester City who mid-week threw away a 3-1 lead against Liverpool in the League Cup. The Citizens are however in devastating form scoring 11 goals in their last two games

Manchester City will be looking to extend their Premier League winning spell to eighth in a row as they meet Leicester City on Boxing Day.

While the champions are now favourites to defend their crown after a scintillating streak since early November, their inconsistent visitors arrive at the Etihad Stadium having dramatically lost out in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.

Amid an incredible run which shows no sign of ending, Manchester City have not only established a three-point Premier League lead, but also registered 11 goals without reply in their two most recent outings.
After surviving a dubious penalty call to go on and record a 4-0 win over lowly Newcastle United, they posted their third successive clean sheet last weekend, maintaining the best defensive record in the division, having conceded just nine goals.

Four different goalscorers at St James’ Park – plus six names on the scoresheet in the 7-0 victory against Leeds a few days earlier – demonstrates the wealth of attacking talent available to Pep Guardiola, who has also seen his side qualify for a place in the Champions League’s last 16.

Despite the summer departure of record goalscorer Sergio Aguero and the forthcoming transfer of Ferran Torres to the same destination, Guardiola insists that no signings are required during the winter window, and recent events certainly support his case.

City have scored 24 times since they last failed to win in the league, back in late October, and sit top of the Premier League at Christmas for only the third time – on both previous occasions they went on to be champions.

Guardiola’s men also secured their 34th league victory of 2021 by beating Newcastle, setting a new record for the most top-flight wins by any team in a calendar year, so are well placed to tackle a side recovering from cup heartbreak for the second time in a month.

Having been eliminated from the Europa League earlier in December, when losing 3-2 to group rivals Napoli, more woe followed on Wednesday night, as Leicester missed out on a place in the EFL Cup semi-finals by losing on penalties at Anfield.

After establishing a 3-1 lead by just after the half-hour mark, the Foxes seemed set to seal a place in the final four, but Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino took the contest to penalties when he fired a late equaliser past Kasper Schmeichel. Almost inevitably, Leicester then went out of the cup in a dramatic spot-kick shootout, with Ryan Bertrand’s miss proving pivotal.

Currently ninth in the Premier League table, the season as a whole has not been going to plan for the East Midlands side, who had won just one of their previous six games before beating Newcastle last time out in the top flight.

Perhaps hoping that a 4-0 win over the Magpies would kickstart an underwhelming campaign, Brendan Rodgers was then hit by the postponement of games against Tottenham and Everton, due to the impact of COVID-19.
Not only must they now get themselves up off the canvas in short order before facing the irrepressible champions, but Leicester will travel to the Northwest knowing that away from home this season their only league wins have come against newly-promoted clubs. They have also lost eight of their last 10 meetings with Manchester City – including a 1-0 defeat earlier this term.

Meanwhile, following four straight wins in league and cup, Arsenal aim to keep their pursuit of a top four place on track when they visit the Premier League’s bottom side Norwich City on Boxing Day.

Having cruised to their 10th top-flight victory last time out at Leeds, and then serenely progressed to the EFL Cup semi-finals, the Gunners now meet a home side who have won just twice all season.

After starting the month inauspiciously with back-to-back defeats, Arsenal have seemed galvanised by the disciplinary action taken against their captain by manager Mikel Arteta, going on to score 14 times in four successive wins in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s absence.

Featuring a much-changed side, the Gunners followed up nine points from nine in the Premier League with a 5-1 victory over Sunderland in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday, in which cup specialist Eddie Nketiah netted a hat-trick for the North London side.

Eighteen-year-old starlet Charlie Patino also added his name to the scoresheet against the Black Cats, to cap a consummate performance from Arteta’s second string and set up a tantalising semi-final tie with Liverpool next month.

Since their recent London derby win over West Ham lifted them into the top four for the first time since October 2020, Arsenal have gone on to post a convincing win over Leeds last weekend before comfortably progressing in the cup. They will, therefore, be confident of maintaining a Boxing Day record which has seen the club lose just twice in their last 23 games played on December 26.

Indeed, only Liverpool and Manchester City have bettered the Gunners’ points tally over the past six league matches, but they have tended to falter far more often when on the road. Ahead of the trip to Carrow Road this week, Arsenal have lost five of their nine away fixtures in the Premier League, compared to seven wins from nine on home soil.

Undoubtedly, Arteta will expect to improve that record against a struggling side, with three points from such games a requirement if they are to secure a return to the Champions League during the second half of the season.

Victims of disruption caused by the latest twist in the COVID-19 pandemic, Norwich City have been sidelined since their home defeat to Aston Villa over a week ago, having had their fixture with West Ham United called off due to a virus outbreak in the squad.

While opportunities to train together have necessarily been limited, perhaps the break came at a good time for the ailing Canaries, who had just lost three consecutive games without scoring and have failed to win in five.

Not only has new boss Dean Smith inherited a squad low in confidence and lacking elite-level quality in key positions, a number of injury and illness related absences have hindered his efforts to help them escape the drop zone.

While they remain just three points adrift of safety, Norwich have played at least one game more than several of their relegation rivals, so must start to accumulate points at a greater rate if they are to survive.
Sitting bottom of the Premier League pile with only 10 points to date, they will be aware that only three teams who started Boxing Day in last place have previously managed to avoid demotion since the competition was inaugurated nearly 30 years ago.

Having also lost 10 of their last 14 top-flight encounters with their next opponents, the Canaries will be up against both form and precedent on Sunday.