Leicester vs. Manchester City: Issues and Decisions That Will Shape EPL Game

When the club you support has a win-or-go-home Champions League group-stage match in a country where they have never won before, you look for any positive omens you can find.

And sometimes you listen for them.

Heading home to watch the AS Roma/Manchester City Champions League Group E second-place decider, my car radio randomly and without hesitation gave me exactly what I wanted the minute I turned it on.

This.

Hearing Oasis did not necessarily mean City were going to win, but you would have had a hard time convincing me otherwise in that moment.

Summertime is indeed in bloom for City, even in December. The Sky Blues are into the knockout stage of the Champions League for the second season in a row, and they are a scant three points behind formerly invincible Chelsea for the Premier League lead.

The only thing that could put a damper on City's mood now would be dropping points to league doormat Leicester City.

Here are five issues and decisions that will shape Manchester City's tilt with Leicester City.

Leicester City's Form Is Too Poor for Manchester City's Own Good

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The Foxes are not too sly or spry these days.

September 21, 2014 was the day Leicester City announced to the Premier League that they belonged.

The Foxes beat Manchester United 5-3 that day for their second straight victory in the league. The three points Leicester City took from United hoisted the Foxes to seventh in the league table, one place behind Manchester City. United were in 12th place after the loss.

Things have, um, changed for all three of those sides since then.

Manchester City and Manchester United are running second and third in the league now. Leicester City are in 20th place. There are only 20 sides in the league.

That's what happens when you have not won in two-and-a-half months; Leicester City's win over United is still their most recent league win.

So this looks like a pretty easy win for Manchester City, but in all seriousness it probably would be better for the Sky Blues if Leicester City had won more recently than they have.

It is harder than it looks for a club to go without a win for this long, and the law of averages suggests that Leicester City are due to catch someone napping soon.

This Is the Ultimate Test of Manchester City's Professionalism

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Zabaleta and his teammates will have to dig deep to find their best against Leicester City.

If you doubt that AS Roma 0-2 Manchester City was a season-defining victory, maybe you will believe some of these other writers when they say it.

"It is feasible, after this, that a corner has been turned. City have every right to approach Europe with renewed confidence. They have taken their time, but this team are at last finding ways to win in the continent’s most inhospitable places," wrote Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail.

"They did it the hard way, in keeping with Manchester City’s unique and perverse sense of melodrama. But Manuel Pellegrini’s side saved the best until last, sneaking into the Champions League knockout stage with this heroic victory in the Eternal City," reported David McDonnell for the Mirror.

"Manchester City and their fans will never, ever forget their night in the Eternal City. They will always recall the evening when hope sprang eternal, when the champions of England displayed style and resilience, powering into the last 16 of the Champions League with goals from Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabeleta," noted Henry Winter for The Telegraph.

It was kind of a big deal.

After saving their Champions League campaign in hostile territory against a very good (if not great) Roma side, Manchester City now have to go to Leicester and play the worst team in the Premier League.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has an enormous task ahead. Getting his players to bring the same desire and energy to this match after the triumph in Rome could be very difficult.

Manchester City's Wounded Stars Need More Rest

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Kompany (center) should be given as much time as he needs to get fit.

Sky Sports reported in the run-up to Manchester City's Champions League clash with AS Roma this past week that David Silva and Vincent Kompany had trained before the match and thus might play.

Silva came on late in the second half after Samir Nasri had put Manchester City ahead. Kompany did not play at all. It was the club's lesser lights, Nasri and Zabaleta with their goals and Fernandinho and Fernando with their midfield dominance, that carried the Sky Blues through. Joe Hart was great, too.

Given the magnitude of the match, the fact that Silva and Kompany were so limited means that neither man is close to full fitness. As such, both men should sit this match with Leicester City out.

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini does not much like to rest his best players. The pressure on Pellegrini to get a result every time his side takes the pitch is suffocating. 

But the Premier League schedule is ridiculously packed with fixtures this time of year. Pellegrini cannot risk losing Kompany or Silva for even more time by rushing them back into the XI against cellar-dwelling Leicester City.

Already on a Tear, Manchester City Could Pile Up Big Points in the Coming Weeks

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Pellegrini's club could build a war chest of points given their upcoming schedule.

Winners of six straight in all competitions, the road in front of Manchester City is open wide and the traffic lights are greener than a Christmas tree.

Manchester City's next five league matches are at Leicester City, home to Crystal Palace, at West Bromwich Albion, home to Burnley and home to Sunderland.

Put another way, Manchester City's next five opponents are presently 20th, 15th, 16th, 19th and 14th in the league table.

There almost certainly will not be another run of winnable fixtures like this one for Manchester City this season. Anything fewer than, say, 12 points from the 15 available here would be an enormous disappointment.

But they cannot win them all if they do not start with a win over Leicester City.

Manchester City Still Have to Be Worried About Where the Goals Will Come from

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Aguero's gingerly stride makes for nervous times at Manchester City.

Manchester City deserve all of the plaudits from their victory over AS Roma and their subsequent Champions League knockout-stage qualification. That they did it without their best player, Sergio Aguero, makes the achievement even more meaningful.

The Sky Blues proved that, at least for one night, they were not a one-man band. They got goals from a midfielder and a defender. If you do that, you probably don't need a striker.

But that one night is over, and now with all of these eminently winnable matches lined up in front of them, Manchester City have to prove that they can score enough goals without Aguero to keep the train rolling.

Based on what he had to give against Roma, Edin Dzeko does not look to be fully fit. Stevan Jovetic is recently back from injury himself. Perhaps Manchester City will keep squeezing goals from Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Frank Lampard and the like until Aguero comes back.

Against clubs that project to pack the box and play for a draw, though, Manchester City may find the longer term without Aguero far less manageable than they did one night in Rome.