In their final game of 2015, Manchester City played out a 0-0 draw against second place Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. Both teams were looking to take another step towards a good ending toward the 2015 calendar year, and the first half of the Barclays Premier League season.
Manchester City were coming off a 4-1 victory on Boxing Day against Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium. Leicester fell to Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield after Christian Benteke provided the winning goal for the Reds.
Manuel Pellegrini‘s men looked to be the more dominant throughout the match totaling 61% of the possession in favor to Leicester’s 39%. The Citizens forced Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel to make five saves in the game out of their 21 total shots.
Joe Hart made four saves in the Manchester City net out of the 11 total shots that Leicester mustered up.
The key moment in the match came in the 63rd minute as City striker Sergio Aguero looked to have been brought-down in the box by Leicester midfielder Gokhan Inler. However the call for a penalty was not given by referee Craig Pawson. It ended up being Aguero’s last action of the match, as he was then replaced by Wilfried Bony.
Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez were the standout stars for Leicester in the match, however both did not look up to their full potential. Vardy was coming off the flu over the weekend match-up against Liverpool, and Mahrez was dealing with a nagging ankle injury.
Claudio Ranieri‘s side will head into 2016 sitting in second place earning 39 points out of 19 games so far. Manchester City moved back into third-place after earning a point in today’s match, which gives them 36 points out of 19 games.
According to BBC Sport, Manuel Pellegrini believes that “the upcoming period of the season will be tough, and at the end of January he will know what position his team will be in.”
The Citizens have seven games coming up in the month of January, with four of them being in league-play. Their next game will be on the road as they will travel to now eighth-placed Watford on Saturday.
Overall, it was a great 2015 for Manchester City as they have advanced into the Round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League and are still in contention for the Capital One Cup and the Barclays Premier League title. It will be interesting to see what surprises await Pellegrini’s squad at the start of 2016.