Leicester City experienced that familiar sinking feeling on Wednesday as they entered the Etihad Stadium with no hope of recording a famous victory.
It only took Manchester City two minutes to open the scoring through Jack Grealish and then double their lead on half-hour mark as Omar Marmoush capitalised on a Mads Hermansen error.
Man City were without Erling Haaland for this match but the game was still comfortable for the hosts, who restricted Leicester City to an xG of just 0.02 across the 90 minutes.
Ruud van Nistelrooy had no answer for the barrage of attacks and, as demonstrated by the above metric, posed no threat going forward.
It ended up being a routine Man City 2-0 win over Leicester on Wednesday night, and while the scoreline and balance of the game suggests it was easy, Pep Guardiola dropped a surprising admission.
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Pep Guardiola says ‘it wasn’t easy’ to play against Leicester City
Leicester went to the Etihad Stadium with a clear plan of sitting behind the ball and soaking up pressure.
But once Grealish stuck one past Hermansen in the second minute of the game, that tactic was pointless, as City needed to chase the game.
Despite scoring almost instantly and then doubling their lead in the first period, Guardiola claimed that ‘it wasn’t easy’ to play against a team who sat 10 men behind the ball.
“We didn’t concede anything except one thing at the end. It wasn’t easy with 10 players behind the ball in the box,” Guardiola conceded.
“We missed the third goal to be more relaxed, it’s never over. But pleased for a good performance.
“We never give up to find the third goal. A performance that nothing wrong happened, everyone focused, we missed a third goal that’s all.”
The Man City boss wanted a third goal to essentially kill off the game but even when the score was just 1-0, the match was dead and buried as far as Leicester were concerned.
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Ruud van Nistelrooy’s assessment of Man City defeat
In the aftermath of the defeat, Van Nistelrooy accepted Leicester’s relegation fate, conceding that the 12-point gap is ‘too much’ to claw back.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 17 |  WolvesWolves | 30 | 8 | 5 | 17 | 41 | 58 | -17 | 29 |
| 18 |  IpswichIpswich | 30 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 30 | 63 | -33 | 20 |
| 19 |  LeicesterLeicester | 30 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 25 | 67 | -42 | 17 |
| 20 |  SouthamptonSouthampton | 30 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 22 | 71 | -49 | 10 |
A run of 14 losses in 15 matches and no goal scored in the last eight is ultimately what has given City no chance of securing survival.
Speaking after the game, the former Manchester United striker bemoaned their lack of goals as being the ‘problem’, stating ‘the ball doesn’t seem to go in’.
“Hard for all of us. We’re working, trying things. We want to improve, the two goals we conceded are our own mistakes and you can’t afford that especially away at City. Scoring goals is a problem, the ball doesn’t seem to go in,” he said.
Van Nistelrooy’s assessment of their issue is bizarre, as he suggests the ball won’t go in the net but they only amassed an xG of 0.02 against the Citizens, underlining a bigger problem than just finishing chances, they’re not even creating them.