HAALAND MACHINE ATTACKS SHEARER'S RECORD! LEICESTER APPROACHES HISTORIC ANTI-RECORD

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Manchester City – Leicester City

April 2nd, 2025

Etihad Stadium will be the venue for a clash of enormous contrasts. Manchester City dominates English football, while Leicester is experiencing one of the worst seasons in its history. The visiting Foxes have the fewest shots (262) and expected goals (25.8) in the entire Premier League, while the home Citizens rank second in shooting attempts (466), only behind Liverpool.

The head-to-head record clearly favors the defending champions. Citizens have won nine of the last ten league duels with Leicester, including the last six in a row with an impressive overall score of 15:4. Interestingly, none of the 12 matches that Leicester has played in the Premier League at Manchester City's ground has ended in a draw (5 Leicester wins, 7 City wins).

Etihad Stadium is synonymous with goal feasts for these teams. Ten mutual matches at this stadium have produced a respectable 43 goals (City 25, Leicester 18), which means more than 4 goals per match.

April matches are almost a certainty of three points for Pep Guardiola's men. City have won all of their last 13 league duels played in this month. Only Liverpool in December (15 between 2017-2020) and Manchester United in March (15 between 2005-2009) have recorded longer winning streaks in a specific month in Premier League history.

Equally impressive is the Citizens' record against newcomers to the competition. Of the last 22 matches against newly promoted teams, they have managed to win 21 times and draw once. The current streak of 12 consecutive wins equals their own record from 2009-2011.

Leicester finds itself in a deep crisis. Under Ruud van Nistelrooy's leadership, they have lost 13 of their last 14 league matches, including the last six, in which they failed to score a single goal. If they again leave without scoring, they would join just four teams in the history of England's top flight that lost seven or more matches in a row without scoring a goal.

Equally alarming is the statistic of conceded goals. Leicester has conceded the first goal in 24 of their 29 matches so far, which is five more cases than any other team. If they concede first against City, they would establish a new Premier League record - 25 matches with the first goal conceded in the opening 30 rounds of a single season.

Van Nistelrooy, with a loss percentage of 81.3% (13 losses in 16 matches), has the second-worst record among all managers who have led a team in at least 15 Premier League matches. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Pep Guardiola, whose 71.8% wins (239 out of 333 matches) ranks him second in the historical tables.

The star of the evening could be Erling Haaland, who has another milestone within reach. The Norwegian striker has scored 48 goals in 47 home Premier League matches. If he scores twice against Leicester (which he managed during their last visit to the Etihad in April 2023), he would become only the second player after the legendary Alan Shearer to reach 50 goals in fewer than 50 home matches.

Interestingly, all four goals that Omar Marmoush has scored in this Premier League season have come at Etihad Stadium. Along with Marc Cucurella, they are the only players who have scored all their goals (4) at the home stadium. Only three players in Manchester City's history have scored their first five or more Premier League goals exclusively on home turf - Paulo Wanchope (6), Raheem Sterling (9), and Phil Foden (5).

We thank OPTA for providing the statistical data.