Aguero hits Leicester for four as City storm 16 points clear

Sergio Aguero scored four second-half goals as Manchester City continued their emphatic march towards the Premier League title with a 5-1 win thrashing of Leicester to move 16 points clear at the top of the table.

Raheem Sterling had given City an early lead but Leicester went into the break on level terms thanks to Jamie Vardy’s equaliser.However, Aguero took centre stage with a finishing masterclass after the break to take his tally in City’s last seven home games to 14 goals.

Leicester named City target Riyad Mahrez among the substitutes after he ended a self-imposed exile which saw him miss their last two matches.The Algeria international had seen a proposed deadline day transfer to the Etihad Stadium collapse after the Foxes rejected City’s offer.

But it didn’t take long for the home side to show the abundance of talent they have going forward despite missing out on Mahrez and coping with a series of injuries to the likes of Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus.

Kevin De Bruyne curled a cross into the penalty area and Sterling nipped in front of Marc Albrighton at the back post to guide the ball home for his 20th goal of the season.

However, shortly before the half-hour mark City were rocked when Vardy showed great pace to get beyond City’s record signing Aymeric Laporte and his shot deflected into the bottom corner to complete the striker’s haul of scoring against all of the Premier League’s top six this season.

City threatened an immediate response as Kasper Schmeichel was forced to save at his near post from a fierce angled shot from De Bruyne while Aleksandar Dragovic’s timely sliding block denied Sterling.

However, Leicester’s resistence didn’t last after the break as Aguero scored twice in five minutes to effectively end the game as a contest.

A neat exchange between Sterling and De Bruyne on the right flank allowed the latter to tease a low cross to gift Aguero a tap-in.

Moments later a weak clearance from Schmeichel was ruthlessly punished as a clinical City move culminated in De Bruyne’s third assist and a fierce angled shot from Aguero which the Leicester goalkeeper got a hand to but could not prevent going in.

With just under a third of the game left Mahrez came on for Fousseni Diabate, to cheers from both sets of supporters.The day belonged to Aguero, though, and he rounded off the game with two superb strikes.

First he capitalised on another poor clearance from Schmeichel and lifted an audacious chip over the Denmark international.But he saved the best for last with a powerful effort from just outside the area which bounced in off the underside of the crossbar.