Bernardo Silva earns Man City win at Leicester

Manchester City secured a third straight league win after seeing off Leicester City in an entertaining game at King Power Stadium.

The Portuguese pounced after Joao Cancelo’s shot was deflected by Caglar Soyuncu into Silva’s path.

At 0-0 Manchester City’s Ederson saved well from Harvey Barnes, while at the other end Gabriel Jesus was twice denied by Schmeichel.

Leicester created several chances, Barnes clipping the top of the bar with a header before Jamie Vardy had a goal ruled out for offside.

Silva’s goal means City have won all their games since starting the defence of their Premier League crown with a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.

Man City hitting familiar form

City spent £100m on British record signing Jack Grealish to give them another source of creativity but there was disappointment in their lengthy pursuit of Harry Kane, who is staying at Spurs.

It led critics to question whether they could win another title without a main striker.

Incredibly at this early stage of the campaign, Silva became the ninth different Manchester City player to score in the Premier League in 2021-22 after another job well done by Pep Guardiola’s side against determined opponents.

Leicester will feel hard done they finished with nothing from a high-octane match. That was partly down to Ederson, whose participation in this game had been in doubt along with Jesus.

The Brazilian duo were eventually cleared to play for their clubs this weekend after complaints about their failure to report for international duty were dropped – and both played key roles in their team’s latest win.

Ederson received a facial injury and required lengthy treatment after making a brave save to keep out Barnes before making a denying substitute Ademola Lookman late on.

At the other end, Jesus was lively and would surely have scored but for Schmeichel’s superb early save.

After making a losing start to the season, Guardiola’s side are beginning to hit familiar form.

By winning their first match away from Etihad Stadium since 14 May, they have made a perfect start to a testing week that sees them start their latest attempt to win the Champions League for the first time.

Wednesday’s home group game with RB Leipzig, last season’s Bundesliga runners-up, will provide another big test for City.

They will prepare for it on the back of a winning run and with confidence sky-high.

Foxes offer plenty of promise

There was no repeat for Leicester of the triumphant scenes at Wembley five weeks ago when Kelechi Iheanacho’s 89th-minute penalty defeated Guardiola’s side in the Community Shield.

Despite a second defeat in three games, there were still plenty of positives for Brendan Rodgers at the start of a busy period of games that will go some way to shaping the Foxes’ season.

Rodgers gave first league starts to summer signings Ryan Bertrand and Jannik Vestergaard in what was the first of seven league and cup matches in the space of 22 days.

Both showed promise by making important blocks while substitute Lookman – who joined shortly before the summer transfer window closed last month – was a lively addition after appearing as a 73rd-minute substitute.

As well as forcing Ederson into a clever save, former Everton winger Lookman was denied by Ruben Dias after the defender blocked his goal-bound shot late on.

Leicester, who also welcomed back Jonny Evans from a foot injury, have endured a mixed start to the season after winning two and losing two of their four games.

But there is plenty of optimism in the air as they get ready to launch another Europa League campaign at home to Napoli on Thursday.

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