While everybody knew Manchester City were in a bit of a rough patch, few expected the 4-2 drubbing Pep Guardiola’s men suffered at the hands of Leicester City at the weekend.
The Foxes, who finally reminded everyone why they won the Premier League last season, had Jamie Vardy to thank, with the former Fleetwood striker scoring his first top flight hat trick, but their summer record signing Islam Slimani also played a big part in the surprise win at the weekend.
He said: “We had to win, we were at home and, thank God, we prepared the game well and managed to pick up the three points. We were rested against Porto, and this allowed us to be fresh and go hard in this game against City.”
Explaining that everyone in the team finally rekindled that ‘fighting spirit’ the team have failed to show since the start of the season, the striker also wanted to thank the fans, who gave him a standing ovation for his performance as the player was substituted by Claudio Ranieri 10 minutes from the end.
He said: “It’s a great pride for me to be part of Premier League history. After that, scoring goals or assisting, the main thing is that the team win. I take the same pleasure from it. The praise goes to my teammates, whom I thank, as well as the fans, for their support. If I could’ve offered more goals, I would have.”
Slimani became only the second player to assist twice in the first five minutes of a game, with Arsenal’s former forward Andrei Arshavin the only one to do it before him back in 2011 against Newcastle.
