Manchester City were ruthless, fell asleep and then woke to end a Leicester resistance that came in a sparkling second-half riposte to the champions, who were 4-0 up at the break. But what
Pep Guardiola characterised as a “typical
boxing Day” encounter – a throwback to yesteryear’s high-scoring affairs – might have ended differently if Brendan Rodgers’ men were as merciless as City.
![Manchester City’s Laporte and Sterling end Leicester comeback in 6-3 thriller](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c37ecb7cf40ab32e5c28ac9bb29b76b0f3f21cfc/0_168_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=a572478155f1a8dfef1f16a7298994a8)
When James Maddison slipped in Kelechi Iheanacho on 70 minutes, the striker was stopped by Ederson from moving the visitors to only 5-4 behind. Marc Albrighton later spurned a headed chance to do the same. If either opening had been taken, there is no knowing what the closing phase might have thrown up.