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The Sunday Night Takeaway: Jesus saves City and Leicester continue fall from grace

Relegation is becoming a real concern for Leicester, after their poor run of form was dealt anoth...



The Sunday Night Takeaway: Jes...
Soccer

The Sunday Night Takeaway: Jesus saves City and Leicester continue fall from grace

Relegation is becoming a real concern for Leicester, after their poor run of form was dealt another blow this weekend.

Goals in either half from Manchester United, condemned the reigning Premier League champions to just one point above the relegation zone. 

In the other game of the day, Gabriel Jesus answered Man City's prayers with a decisive goal in the dying minutes, to put Pep Guardiola's side into third place on the table.

Foxes facing relegation

A second consecutive 3-0 humiliation at the King Power Stadium, leaves Leicester contemplating the real possibility of being relegated to the Championship next year.

Claudio Ranieri's side conceded all three goals in just eight minutes on the back of some desperate defending. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was first in line to send the ball crashing past Kasper Schmeichel after a clever first touch allowed him to sprint virtually unopposed at the Leicester goals before applying the finish.

Image: Juan Mata celebrates his goal against Leicester on Sunday.

Leicester's defence was a total shambles for United's second goal, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic needing minimal effort to stroke the ball home before half-time. Juan Mata claimed United's third after the restart.

To Leicester's credit, their defenders were back in numbers for the attack that led to his goal, but they were easily tricked as Mkhitaryan slipped the ball in to put Mata through with the goal at his mercy.

The title was lost long ago for Leicester and the new objective over the next few months is to preserve their Premier League status.

This defeat to United, is their third loss at home in their last six games at the King Power stadium and they are yet to win an away tie so far this season.

Pep left to praise Jesus

Manchester City sent out a statement of intent an hour before kick-off by naming an incredibly attacking line-up against a Swansea side who remain in mortal danger of relegation from the Premier League.

Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sané all lined up behind lone striker Gabriel Jesus in the hopes of finding a system that will suit a largely dysfunctional City side.

And in the opening half, it looked to have worked. Jesus was on target after only 11 minutes, showing the sort of predatory instinct and cutting edge that has been so often missing from Pep Guardiola's side this year. A rebound dropped to him in the box after Silva's cross and the Brazilian was on hand to turn it home.

Image: Gabriel Jesus celebrates scoring his sides second goal for Man City.

The home side dominated the opening half, but couldn't turn their possession advantage into goals. Yaya Toure was twice denied by Fabianski in the Swansea goal. The feeling was that Swansea might make their way back into the game. Gylfi Sigurdsson's second-half strike confirmed these fears.

But what was different today and which was so wonderfully typified by Jesus' finishing, was that given the opportunity to score, he would go do so in ruthless fashion.

His opening was a stab from inside the six-yard box. The second, a rebound from his stoppage time header, was the exact same. Where City as a whole may not have been as ruthless, Jesus encompassed what they had been missing. They don't always have to be pretty, any auld goal will do for Pep right now. 

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