Pep Guardiola was overwhelmed by a sense of relief rather than joy as Manchester City ended their battle with a 2-0 win over Leicester City.
Savinho opened the scoring in the first half before scoring Erling Haaland's 74th-minute header as City secured a much-needed win at the King Power Stadium.
Sunday's triumph marked just a second win in City's last 10 Premier League games, halting a woeful run of form that has already curtailed the four-in-a-row champions' title defence.
The City manager was relieved to cross the line after his side's first win in four league games since beating Nottingham Forest on December 4.
“I would say we all needed it,” said Guardiola, who celebrated his 500th game for City in all competitions. He is the first Premier League manager to achieve this milestone while in charge of one club since David Moyes did so at Everton in 2013.
“It's not the ideal performance, but at these times it's almost impossible.
“It's important to win here, we always struggled. We don't have enough energy to keep our game going for 90 minutes, but hopefully this result will help us come back from the bad results in the new year and our players will come back.
“It's not fun, it's just a relief at the moment. That is the real word to express the feeling we have inside all of us.
“It seems like we've done incredible things for years and now we haven't been able to win games. It's just a relief, but we have to improve.”
We have… pic.twitter.com/EqI08O5qKX
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 29, 2024
Leicester had their chances against a nervous City defense, with Jamie Vardy giving away their best chance.
Indeed, City finished with 1.4 expected goals, only slightly higher than Leicester's 1.3.
Next up for City is a home game against West Ham before taking on Salford City in the FA Cup.
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