Manchester City were at their imperious best last at night as they dashed past a weakened Leeds United, in a 7-0 victory.
The Whites rarely posed a threat to the City backline, this is clearly indicated via their total XG of just 0.22. Meaning that City’s usually resolute backline comprising of Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte had very little to do against Leeds.
A rare foray into the Cityzen’s half by Leeds did give a puzzling clip, to say the least.
The moment came right at the cusp of halftime, as Jack Harrison laid the ball off to Junior Firpo who had made his into the box from the left.
Ruben Dias did well initially as he tracked the former Barcelona player’s run and then put in a solid block, deflecting his cross into the path of Harrison.
Harrison looked all set to cross the ball into the box and find a spare man but was perhaps put off by a bit of bizarre defending from Dias.
The Portuguese centre-back quickly identified the danger but looked a tad confused as he seemingly looked to block the incoming cross on 3 occasions within the span of 2 seconds.
Switching positions based on his intuition, he eventually laid face down on the turf in his attempts to block the ball.
Why does Dias always eat grass pic.twitter.com/CoDAA0sGqr
— Liam ✟ (@_CFCLiam2) December 14, 2021
The number 3’s persistence paid off in the end with his seemingly random movements doing just enough to put Harrison off from delivering a lethal cross.
The commanding victory meant that City solidify their position at the top of the table.
Leeds continue to struggle, sitting at 16th position and just 3 points off the relegation zone.