Leicester City v Manchester City: Premier League – live

Half-time entertainment. Goals elsewhere, for your leisure and pleasure. Simon Burnton has the details!

HALF TIME: Leicester City 0-1 Manchester City

45 min +1: De Bruyne robs a dozing Soumare on the edge of the Leicester box. Silva tees up Kovacic, who lashes high and wide. Manchester City let their hosts off the hook there.

45 min: There will be one additional minute.

44 min: … Ake heads clear from under his own crossbar. That’s a fine clearance under pressure. Leicester are definitely good for a goal here, though. Manchester City look shaky.

43 min: Leicester are giving this a good go, knocking the ball around confidently. Mavididi and Soumare combine down the left to win a corner. El Khannouss can’t beat the first man with his delivery, but De Bruyne slices hysterically behind for another corner. From which …

41 min: Mavididi looks to turn Kovacic in the midfield and is hauled back. The referee again opts to keep his cards in his pocket.

39 min: El Khannouss advances down the left and reaches the byline. He chips into the centre. Manchester City can’t clear their lines. Buonanotte, 12 yards out and completely unchallenged, steers a header off the left-hand post! The champions standing around like statues. Then they spring into life on the counter, Haaland with a header of his own. Blocked. Cleared. This game is daft.

37 min: Space for Vardy down the middle. He’s clearly offside, but play goes on, and the ball’s shifted to Justin, romping in from the right. Justin cracks a shot straight at Ortega, who parries, allowing his defenders to launch a counter. Nothing comes of it.

35 min: Haaland bustles hard down the inside-right channel. He barges his way past three opponents, enters the box, and flashes a low shot inches wide of the right-hand post. Had that been on target, Stolarczyk wasn’t getting there. It would have been a hell of a goal.

33 min: … but Leicester come again, passing patiently before El Khannouss finds himself in space on the right. He crosses low, the ball sailing through the six-yard box, begging for a touch that would surely result in a goal. But neither Vardy nor Buonanotte can extend a leg.

32 min: Leicester play through the Manchester City press again, Soumare and El Khannouss with a couple of little flicks that release Mavididi down the left. However Mavididi seems to lose confidence as he dribbles towards the box and turns tail. A bit strange.

30 min: Foden dinks a ball down the inside-right channel. De Bruyne goes down in between Vestergaard and Soumare, and claims a penalty, but he’s gone over all by himself. He really should be booked, if we’re being honest with ourselves, but the referee simply waves play on.

29 min: A sense that the normal order has been restored here. All Manchester City. It’s been a while.

27 min: Savinho earns a corner down the left. De Bruyne plays a short one-two, then fails to beat the first man with his attempted cross. But the visitors recycle possession, Silva dinking one in from the same flank. Haaland slaps a header straight at Stolarczyk.

25 min: Manchester City are now knocking the ball around with the old disdain. A sudden shift, given how shaky they looked before Savinho’s strike. Goals change games.

23 min: Stolarczyk probably should have done better, to be honest. He teed that up for Savinho to score his first goal for Manchester City, instead of turning the ball out for a corner. “City are staying up,” trill the visiting fans. Ten out of ten for gallows humour.

GOAL! Leicester City 0-1 Manchester City (Savinho 21)

20 min: Gvardiol heads back towards his keeper … but there’s not enough purchase on his header. Vardy nips in and tries to round Ortega on the right. He shoots low from a tight angle. The keeper turns the ball out for a corner, from which nothing comes. Manchester City aren’t themselves at all, but that’s hardly breaking news.

18 min: Now it’s Leicester’s turn to stroke the ball around in the patient, measured style.

16 min: Soumare rolls a pass down the inside-left channel to release Vardy, who isn’t able to burst away from Lewis, but wins a throw deep in Manchester City territory nonetheless. However the flag then pops up for another offside. If Vardy manages to time one of these runs properly, Manchester City will be in big bother.

14 min: El Khannouss fires a pass out to Justin on the right flank, but the move breaks down when the ball’s shuttled to the busy Buonanotte. Still, after a slow start, the hosts are in this game now.

12 min: Kovacic is brought down as he sashays powerfully down the middle. De Bruyne takes the resulting free kick, but bashes it straight into the wall. Both teams look lively in attack, not so steady in defence.

10 min: A huge let-off for Manchester City. Buonanotte, bossing things in the centre circle, sprays a pass down the inside left for Vardy, who is clear! He attempts to round Ortega on the outside and is brought down. But it’s not a penalty, or a red card, because Vardy was an inch or two offside.

9 min: Leicester are already finding it surprisingly easy to play their way through the Manchester City press. They do so for the second time, Buonanotte rolling a pass down the right for Justin, who has the chance to shoot but hesitates fatally, and is eased off the ball by Lewis. Goal kick.

7 min: Some space for De Bruyne down the right. He cuts back from the byline for Haaland, who bashes a shot goalwards. Stolarczyk blocks well. The old Manchester City!

5 min: De Bruyne has a dig from distance. Over the bar it goes. Leicester finally get a go on the ball, and Buonanotte sends Mavididi scampering down the left. Mavididi cuts infield and curls a shot wide right.

4 min: More Manchester City possession. Leicester have hardly had a touch. Coady with one blooter clear, and that’s about it.

2 min: The visitors patiently stroke it around awhile. Then suddenly Savinho explodes into life, dribbling down the inside-left channel and entering the box. It’s a fine run, but then he takes a heavy touch and it’s a goal kick.

Manchester City kick off. A clapper-fuelled atmosphere at the King Power.

The teams are out! Everyone resplendent in blue: Leicester royal, City sky. We’ll be off in a minute or two. It won’t be that long before the teams are out at Selhurst Park, Goodison Park, Craven Cottage and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium either, so here’s a reminder that Simon Burnton is all over the 3pm kick-offs in today’s Clockwatch.

Pre-match postbag. “David Squires tends to draw Haaland as a version of the Terminator but in recent weeks he’s been more like HAL9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey after he starts to malfunction. Do you think he’s having doubts about City’s mission (given all the uncertainty about FA charges, the future of the manager and various players, etc.)? Is he about to sing us a song?” – David Wall

“A Christmas pantomime reply to your question in the MBM preamble. ‘LLLLWDLLD. This Manchester City nonsense can’t go on for much longer, can it?’ PANTO AUDIENCE: O YES, IT CAN! City fan laughing at adversity” – Ewen Atkinson

Ruud van Nistelrooy, who takes charge of Leicester City for the sixth time, talks to Sky. “We were in the game [at Liverpool] for a long time … the 80th minute more or less … we were in for a surprising result, which was positive … when you go to the best team in the league at the moment, you wish for that, so it’s a credit to the team … if we take our opportunities a little bit better it helps … the Wolves defeat was bad in numbers but the performance was something to build on … it is great we have Jamie Vardy back … he is not a secret weapon … he is there to perform when we need him most.”

Pep Guardiola, who takes charge of Manchester City for the 500th time today, speaks to Sky. “I would discount the last 33, 34 days! … the last eight, nine, ten games! … I am so proud … a lot of games in modern football to be in one place … I am really happy of course … we are happy to have Kevin De Bruyne [back] … hopefully he can perform like he does.”

Leicester City can move out of the relegation places with a win this afternoon … for 30 minutes at least. They’d remain in 17th unless Wolverhampton Wanderers win at Tottenham Hotspur in the 3pm kick-offs. Manchester City can rise to fifth, but again, they’d only stay there providing Bournemouth fail to win at Fulham in the 3pms. Probably best to file all this under For What It’s Worth, and hey, we don’t schedule the fixtures.

Leicester make two changes after their 3-1 defeat at Liverpool. Jamie Vardy and Facundo Buonanotte are back; Patson Daka drops to the bench while Jordan Ayew is suspended.

Manchester City make one change after their 1-1 draw with Everton. Kevin De Bruyne replaces Jérémy Doku, who is benched.

The teams

Preamble