Kevin De Bruyne didn't think Manchester City struggled without Erling Haaland in their 1-0 win against Leicester.
City moved to the top of the Premier League by beating Leicester in Saturday's lunchtime kick-off at the King Power Stadium, with De Bruyne's stunning free-kick enough to earn City the three points. The visitors were dominant in the first half before Leicester put them under pressure in the final 20 minutes, but over the course of 90 minutes Pep Guardiola's side created few clear chances.
The obvious conclusion to draw is that City missed the presence of Haaland up top. The 22-year-old - who has scored 17 goals in 11 Premier League outings this season - was not named in the matchday squad due to what Guardiola described as an issue with a ligament in his foot.
READ MORE: Two world-class moments ease Man City's Erling Haaland concerns vs Leicester
The injury is not thought to be too serious, but after the match Guardiola ruled him out of the Champions League tie with Sevilla on Wednesday - partly because there is nothing riding on the match - but wasn't sure if he'd be fit to face Fulham next weekend.
Ultimately Saturday's game was decided by De Bruyne's moment of genius, although the Belgian didn't think that Haaland's absence stifled City's creativity.
"I think we created enough, it’s difficult with or without him [Haaland] if a team plays 11 behind the ball," De Bruyne told BT Sport. "We proved we can do it with and without him, we’re a good team."
By the end of the match City were hanging on, and De Bruyne thought that could have been avoided.
"I think we made it difficult, I think we were tired with the games that have come up. They [Leicester] were negative defensively for 70 minutes and then we knew with the chances it was a different game but we knew we had to keep it in their half, we didn’t do that. I still think we could’ve scored a second one, they had a couple of moments, more from our doing but in the end a good victory.
"We always have to do better, I think I’ve been doing fairly good but some games are more difficult than others and I try to contribute, that’s all I can do."
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