Jesus comes off the bench to hand City three points against Leicester

It looked like being a frustrating day for second-placed City when Kasper Schmeichel saved Sergio Aguero’s spot-kick just past the hour. But, Jesus spared his blushes late on. The Brazilian was fractionally onside as he collected a pass from former Leicester title winner Riyad Mahrez and showed great composure to beat Schmeichel.

The victory lifted City (57 points) seven points above Leicester (50 points) in the battle for runner-up spot behind runaway leader Liverpool, which remains 19 points clear before its clash with lowly West Ham United at Anfield on Monday. While Liverpool’s first title for 30 years is a formality, holder City showed it will not take its foot off the gas.

The away side edged an absorbing game that surprisingly required 80 minutes for the deadlock to be broken. PL top-scorer Jamie Vardy rattled the post for Leicester early on and the home side was a constant threat on the counter-attack. At the other end, Schmeichel made great saves to deny Kevin de Bruyne, Aguero and Mahrez while the Argentinean also had a goal ruled out for offside.

Danish keeper Schmeichel’s block from Aguero’s penalty meant City has now failed to score five of its last seven in all competitions.

Manchester United continued its good form with a 3-0 thrashing of Watford at Old Trafford in Manchester last Sunday.

Bruno Fernandes bagged his first goal for United while Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood also got on the scoresheet for the winning side. Troy Deeney put the ball into the back of the net in the second half for Watford but the strike was chalked off by VAR.

In another match, Wolverhampton Wanderers crushed bottom-placed Norwich City 3-0. Diogo Jota netted a brace with Raul Jimenez getting the other goal.