Manchester City 2-0 Leicester City: Silva & Milner secure crucial win

The champions got back to winning ways with a
hard-fought three points against bottom-of-the-
table Foxes to keep up the pressure on Premier
League leaders Chelsea
A far-from-convincing Manchester City kept their
faint Premier League title hopes alive with a 2-0
home win against Leicester City on Wednesday.
David Silva broke the visitors' resistance in first-
half stoppage time before James Milner came off
the bench to wrap up the points late on and
ensure the champions bounced back from
Sunday's defeat at Liverpool.
Manuel Pellegrini's men started the evening five
points behind leaders Chelsea having played a
game more, and that is how they finished it
despite being frustrated by Nigel Pearson's men
for long periods.
It could have been very different had referee
Robert Madley looked differently upon challenges
by Wilfried Bony and Fernando in each half, which
could easily have resulted in penalty kicks.
Riyad Mahrez hit the post late on, while the hosts
spurned a string of late chances before Milner's
effort secured the spoils while Leicester remain
rooted to the foot of the table, seven points from
safety.
Home captain Vincent Kompany was surprisingly
dropped as Pellegrini's response to Sunday's
damaging defeat was to make five changes to his
starting line-up, with Wilfried Bony also making
his first start since his January move from
Swansea.
The champions started in positive fashion too.
Bony's full debut almost got off to the perfect
start as he headed goalwards from Silva's third-
minute corner, but Esteban Cambiasso was there
to hack off the line.
Bony's chance appeared to set the tone for what
was to come, but Leicester succeeded in
frustrating their hosts, and grew into the game
despite seeing little of the ball in the opening 20
minutes.
Jeffrey Schlupp then could have had a 23rd-
minute penalty when clumsily felled by Bony, and
Joe Hart had to rush off his line to stop Andrej
Kramaric and spare Eliaquim Mangala's blushes
two minutes later.
This jolted the game into life and Leicester had to
rely on Mark Schwarzer twice within a matter of
seconds, as he produced two smart saves from
Bony and Jesus Navas in the 35th minute.
But the veteran Australian could do nothing when
Silva made the breakthrough in the second minute
of first-half stoppage time.
The hosts exploited the space created by a rare
Leicester attack to get in behind and after two
last-ditch blocks a yard from goal by Robert Huth
and Wes Morgan, the ball fell into the Spaniard's
path, allowing him to tap into the net.
Leicester responded well to going behind and
Kramaric shook the side-netting from a
dangerous free-kick five minutes after the break,
though Leicester felt the infringement took place
inside the box.
Mahrez rattled a post and City saw a host of
chances pass by as nerves among home fans
began to fray.
But substitute Milner put the result beyond doubt
when he darted across Morgan to convert Navas'
perfect cross from the right with a low finish in
the 88th minute.