The scoreline fails to mention that, for 54 minutes of an intensely charged early evening, Manchester City did not look especially comfortable. It does, however, say plenty about the nature of this season’s title race. Neither of the contenders show the remotest sign of blinking: the stare-off simply grows steelier by the week and this became yet another occasion when a spirited opponent was brushed away despite doing little wrong. Leeds are, like the rest of the league, simply not on the same planet and a raucous environment was ultimately no leveller. Pep Guardiola could pick his side with the Champions League in mind and still see them depart giving the impression they will not drop another point in their final four games.
If that happens City will finish on top again and the sense, as Fernandinho provided the feelgood factor at the end by scoring what may well prove his final goal in City’s colours, was that they had cleared a significant hurdle. Either side of the captain’s daisycutter, a beaten Leeds were serenaded by all four stands in an extraordinary atmosphere that had rarely let up. Dominant sides have wavered under the kind of noise and aggression that greeted City from the outset: here Guardiola’s players mastered it, even if that took them time, and Leeds were obliged to chalk this one off as a free hit in what looks likely to become a tense fight against relegation.
The edge at kick-off was understandable given the heat had been turned up on both teams earlier. City expected Liverpool to achieve their own ends against Newcastle, as Guardiola made perfectly clear afterwards, but Leeds might have felt downcast upon seeing Burnley’s turnaround at Watford nudge them into a perilous 17th place. In the event, the hosts began at speed. When João Cancelo slipped in the centre circle after three minutes and allowed Rodrigo to run through there were unmistakable echoes of a famous twist from the recent past. Rodrigo did not quite have the pace to see the whites of Ederson’s eyes, though, and delayed a pass towards a completely open Raphinha long enough for Ilkay Gundogan to intervene. Leeds snapped into tackles, egged on from the side, and Jack Grealish felt particularly aggrieved at a perceived lack of protection.
But there was always the risk of conceding cheap free-kicks: Stuart Dallas’s foul on Raheem Sterling was not the first example and, when Phil Foden swung in his set-piece from the left, Rodri was able to run across Kalvin Phillips. He glanced beyond Illan Meslier and Leeds could curse the fact Liam Cooper, their captain and defensive organiser, had pulled out after sustaining a knee problem in the warm-up.
For Guardiola the decision to keep Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva fresh for Real Madrid was already being vindicated. But City did not pull clear straightaway: they lacked time on the ball and were pushed back for spells before the interval, Junior Firpo blasted one half-opening over. Leeds’ appetite to ask questions with crosses was not matched by the kind of quality that might pose more serious problems, but the din did not abate and nor did the tempo mustered by Jesse Marsch’s players. When commitment got the better of Dallas it came with unfortunate consequences As half-time neared he clattered into Grealish, who had definitely been fouled this time, but came off by far the worse. He was stretchered off, clearly in agony, and Marsch said the early prognosis is that “we don’t think it’s good with his knee”.
An open start to the second half was pleasing to the eye but did not bode well for Leeds’ ability to retain a foothold. Grealish came close but then the recalled Nathan Ake, who had scored in City’s 7-0 win over these opponents in December, swept in from six yards after Rúben Dias had risen above two men to meet a Foden corner. Again, it was a soft way for Leeds to squander their good work; now the die was cast although Marsch, grumpy with the officials all afternoon, continued to set a tone with one broadside that earned him a booking.
As the minutes ticked down Gabriel Jesus, scoring his sixth in three games, kept his head after Foden had sent him through on goal. That felt hard on Leeds, who could have scored through Dan James and Joe Gelhardt before Fernandinho had his moment from 20 yards. “We wanted to look each other in the eye at the end of the match and say ‘That was our best’, and I think we can do that,” Marsch said. It was not a controversial remark but, as City and Liverpool both roll on, it spoke volumes.
