90’+5’Full TimeSecond Half ends, Manchester City 2, Leeds United 1.90’+4’Attempt missed. Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Phil Foden following a set piece situation.90’+3’SubstitutionSubstitution, Manchester City. Rodri replaces Ilkay Gündogan.90’+2’BookingBooking, Leeds United. Rodrigo is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.90’+1’BookingBooking, Leeds United. Adam Forshaw is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.90’+1’Foul byAdam Forshaw (Leeds United).90’Attempt blocked. Phil Foden (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Riyad Mahrez.90’Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Rodrigo.89’Attempt missed. Phil Foden (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Riyad Mahrez.87’SubstitutionSubstitution, Manchester City. Bernardo Silva replaces Ferran Torres.87’Attempt blocked. Phil Foden (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Riyad Mahrez.86’Attempt blocked. Phil Foden (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Riyad Mahrez.85’Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Illan Meslier.84’Attempt missed. Phil Foden (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right following a corner.82’Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Illan Meslier.81’Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Illan Meslier.80’SubstitutionSubstitution, Leeds United. Joe Aaronson replaces Patrick Bamford.80’SubstitutionSubstitution, Leeds United. Pascal Struijk replaces Adam Forshaw.79’Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Illan Meslier.78’Attempt blocked. Ferran Torres (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Riyad Mahrez with a cross.77’Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Illan Meslier.76’Attempt missed. Phil Foden (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right following a corner.75’Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Illan Meslier.74’Attempt blocked. Ferran Torres (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Riyad Mahrez with a cross following a corner.Manchester City moved four points clear at the top of the Premier League after surviving a late scare to beat a Leeds side playing under new manager Sam Allardyce for the first time. Two fine first-half goals by Ilkay Gundogan had done the damage for City, who appeared utterly dominant as they headed towards their 10th straight league win. Gundogan’s first neat finish, which came after Riyad Mahrez found him in space on the edge of the area, was into the bottom left-hand corner of Joel Robles’ goal and his second was identical apart from that he found the opposite corner of the net.
City were in full control but could not find a third goal to finish Leeds off after the break and even Erling Haaland, for once, failed to score – his best effort came back off the post. Their best chance to wrap the game up came with six minutes to go when Pascal Struijk fouled Phil Foden inside the area and referee Andrew Madley pointed to the spot; however, regular penalty-taker Haaland passed up the chance to take it and add to his 51-goal tally for the season and Gundogan missed out on a hat-trick when he sent his effort against the post.
That gave Leeds hope and only 58 seconds later they were somehow back in the game when Manuel Akanji failed to deal with a long ball and substitute Rodrigo beat Ederson with a low finish. Their noisy supporters roared them forward in search of an unlikely equaliser but City were not in the mood to let the three points slip and Pep Guardiola’s side march on with their Treble bid coming against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
They now have four Premier League games left and for the first time this season have a significant lead over second-placed Arsenal who travel to third-placed Newcastle on Sunday; meanwhile, Leeds and Allardyce only have a grim fight against relegation ahead with three games left and they remain out of the relegation zone on goal difference – but they will have to show far more attacking intent in the next few weeks if they are to avoid the drop. Gundogan showed his value to Man City with an average rating of 7.23 and his contract ends in the summer; it is games like this that show how foolish it would be for City to allow him to leave after seven years at Etihad Stadium as his knack for finding space or timing his run to make or score a goal remains an important weapon for Guardiola’s side. Until the late drama that followed Gundogan’s miss, this was exactly the kind of stroll that City wanted before they face Real in a tie that will define their season; however, their biggest concern will be an injury to left-back Nathan Ake who was forced off in the second half and must be a doubt for Tuesday’s game against Madrid.
Allardyce’s comments at his unveiling in midweek succeeded in taking the pressure off his players before kick-off but he could do little more to help them once the game began; as anticipated, his plan to stop City involved defending deep and in numbers which initially worked but with Leeds so timid it seemed only a matter of time before the leaders found a way through which they duly did at 2-0 and it felt like damage-limitation was Allardyce’s main goal and on that front at least this was mission accomplished – his side did not ship chances or goals in anything like the same numbers as they have in recent weeks and their late rally was something of an unexpected and probably undeserved bonus; but far from being battered as many people expected this was a performance to build on and even Allardyce said “we take some hope from it” and “we now need to build on that and try to get a result”. His first home game in charge will be against Newcastle on 13 May.