Pep Guardiola celebrates milestone as Manchester City beat Leicester City

With a thrilling victory over Leicester City, Pep Guardiola marked 500 games as Manchester City's manager. The struggling reigning champions have only won twice in their past ten Premier League games thanks to Savinho and Erling Haaland's goals as Manchester City defeated Leicester City by 2-0.

Before the Reds' trip to West Ham later on Sunday, they were in fifth place and eleven points behind the champions, Liverpool, but it was still insufficient to get them back into the top four. Despite having the worst run in his managerial career, Pep Guardiola vowed to persevere, but the visitors lived cautiously at King Power Stadium, with Facundo Buonanotte hitting the post for the Foxes and Jamie Vardy coming close twice. 

Although it is obvious that City has to regain its confidence, they were able to defeat a struggling Leicester team that had a strong start under Ruud van Nistelrooy. The Foxes are in the relegation zone after losing four in a row and five of their last seven games since Steve Cooper was fired in November. Vardy had the finest first-half opportunity for the home team, but Stefan Ortega stopped it after Josko Gvardiol made a mistake. Buonanotte's header then bounced over the post, but by that time, they were behind Savinho's first goal for City in the twenty-first minute.

Savinho had, however, had difficulty making a name for himself in the Premier League since joining the Manchester-based team. Although he flattered to deceive most of the time, he had a strong start to the season with a brilliant performance against Chelsea in the opening match and even picked up a few assists in his home debut against Ipswich Town. The last time he contributed to a league goal for the reigning champions came in September when he helped himself to another assist in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal.

Manchester City struggling to find form

Although Savinho's goal had put Manchester City up in the first half, Leicester City's constant attacks on the City goal meant they still needed another goal to secure the win. In the second half, Manchester City made Leicester pay for the several opportunities that they generated but were unable to convert. After Kevin De Bruyne moved the ball to the opposite wing, he found Savinho on the left.

The Brazilian then floated a cross into the box, where an unmarked Erling Haaland hammered it into the Leicester goal to give his team a 2-0 victory. Savinho, who had gone 11 games without contributing a goal, scored and assisted on the same night, and Haaland broke their streak today, scoring only his second goal in eight games. Additionally, this victory was only Manchester City's second since they defeated Southampton 1-0 at the end of October.