With 41 points, Pep Guardiola's men are 4 lengths ahead of Liverpool, which receives Newcastle on Thursday, and 5 over Chelsea, which hosts Everton.

Marcelo Bielsa's team remains 16th with 16 points.

While a Guardiola / Bielsa duel should make any football fan dream, there was not really a match at the Etihad.

With the return of Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne in the starting XI, the tenure of Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva, City seemed determined to exploit every flaw in the Peacocks' defense, which is sometimes crumbly.

And it did not fail: from the 7th minute, Foden launched Rodri towards the goal and followed to recover the ball repelled by Illan Meslier and open the scoring (1-0, 7th).

It was the 500th goal scored by Manchester City since the arrival of Pep Guardiola on the bench, in 207 matches, a record of precocity, the fastest before that having been Jürgen Klopp in 234 games in all competitions.

Even before the end of the first quarter of an hour, Jack Grealish doubled the score with a header (2-0, 13th) and all the spectators understood that the evening was going to be long for Leeds.

Manchester City midfielder Jack Grealish scores the 2nd home goal against Leeds on Matchday 17 of the Premier League on December 14, 2021 at the Etihad Stadium Paul ELLIS AFP

It was then Kevin de Bruyne who removed all suspense at the half-hour of play, at the conclusion of a school combination with Foden found in support back to goal by John Stones, for a discount towards Rodri who threw the Belgian in the gaping breach opened by the races of the attackers (3-0, 31st).

The joy of Belgian Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne after scoring the 3rd home goal against Leeds on Matchday 17 of the Premier League on December 14, 2021 at the Etihad Stadium Paul ELLIS AFP

The Belgian signed a brace with a blackberry strike (5-0, 62nd), not long after Mahrez also found the fault (4-0, 49th).

At the end of the match, the defenders took part in the feast, Stones scoring despite a double save from Meslier (6-0, 74th) and Nathan Ake, who came into play shortly before, still driving the nail with his head from a corner (7-0 , 78th).

A nightmare to quickly forget for Leeds who had yet given Chelsea a hard time this weekend (3-2) and which still has complicated matches ahead with Arsenal at home and then a trip to Liverpool.

Leeds French goalkeeper Illan Meslier after the 7-0 defeat to Manchester City on Matchday 17 of the Premier League on December 14, 2021 at the Etihad Stadium Paul ELLIS AFP

Manchester City's next match will send the leader to a virtual relegation, Newcastle (19th).

Villa smiles

In the other game of the evening - the meeting between Brentford and Manchester United having been postponed due to numerous cases of Covid at the Red Devils - Aston Villa played a terrible trick on his former coach Dean Smith, now on the Norwich Red Lantern bench, winning 2-0.

The first goal was scored by Jacob Ramsey after a great breakthrough in which the Canaries' defense was very passive (1-0, 34th), before Ollie Watkins doubled the lead at the very end. match (2-0, 87th).

The joy of Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins after opening the scoring against Brighton on Matchday 12 of the Premier League on November 20, 2021 at Villa Park in Birmingham Lindsey Parnaby AFP / Archives

Even if they are still only 9th, the Villans, revitalized by the arrival of Steven Gerrard on their bench, are starting to look like outsiders in the race for Europe.

With 4 wins in 6 matches, they are only 6 lengths behind the 4th and last virtual qualifier for the Champions League, West Ham, even if they have one more game.

The next home game against Burnley (18th) is quite within their reach, before the reception of Chelsea, much more relieved but just as interesting, especially as the two defeats of "Coach Gerrard" took place against Manchester City (2-1) and Liverpool (1-0), not without having offered a good resistance.

© 2021 AFP