(Football news) Manchester City reclaimed 2nd position on the Premier League table with a 3-1 win away at Leeds. Pep Guardiola benched both Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker as he started 18 year old academy graduate Rico Lewis. Phil Foden also started on the bench as Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish flanked Erling Haaland up front. Kalvin Phillips did make the bench days after Pep Guardiola said that he returned from the World Cup overweight. Bernardo Silva, who played 2 minutes against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup a few days ago didn’t play any part in this match.

Erling Haaland had a couple of good chances early on but they were saved by Illan Meslier. Jack Grealish missed two massive chances to break the deadlock. Minutes before the end of the first half Rodri opened the scoring much to the relief of Pep Guardiola and Manchester City fans. Grealish did make up for the missed chances by setting up Erling Haaland twice inside 15 minutes of the 2nd half to make it 3-0. The 2 goals took Haaland’s Premier League goal tally to 20 in just 14 games, making him the fastest player to score 20 Premier League goals. Leeds did pull one goal back via Pascal Struijk which ended up being just a consolation.

Manchester City are now back to 2nd place in the Premier League with 35 points. Arsenal are still 5 points clear but it is only December. A lot will depend on Arsenal’s activity in the January transfer window. Manchester City by the looks of it aren’t going to sign anyone in January unless there is a major injury. Leeds remain in 15th position just 2 points off the relegation zone. They definitely need a couple of signings in January to strengthen their squad which is plagued a little by injuries.

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