Man City player ratings gallery vs Leeds - Three score 7/10 as none get 8/10 or above in 3-1 win

Manchester City beat Leeds United 3-1 at Elland Road on Wednesday as they returned to Premier League action with an important three points.

Other than a late resurgence from the hosts, it was a relatively comfortable win for City, who controlled most of the match without playing at their best. A Rodri goal and an Erling Haaland brace wrapped up the win for Pep Guardiola’s side, while Patrick Struijk netted for Leeds.

It took less than a minute for City to create their first opening of the night, when Haaland forced Illian Meslier to come flying out of his goal and close down the shooting angle for the Norwegian’s one-on-one chance.

Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan both then had shots which flashed wide, before Meslier again flew out to stop Haaland while bearing down on goal around the half-hour mark. City controlled things for the vast majority of the first half, and Jack Grealish miscued three decent chances in good shooting opportunities in the latter stages of the opening period, while Gundogan’s chip was also kept out by Meslier.

But right on the stroke of half-time the champions took the lead via Rodri. The midfielder followed up inside the box to tap home after Meslier pushed a Riyad Mahrez shot back into the middle of the box.

And within minutes of the second period getting under way it was 2-0. Grealish pounced on a weak pass from Liam Cooper around the halfway line, before advancing forward and squaring it to Haaland for a tap-in to an almost empty goal.

On 64 minutes, City made it three when Grealish and Haaland combined once again. This time the latter played in the former Aston Villa winger, who reversed it back to Haaland for a first-time finish in the box.

Leeds had offered little all game other than speculative strikes from Wilfried Gnonto  and Brenden Aaranson, but popped up with an unlikely goal in the latter stages. It was Struijk who headed in Sam Greenwood’s inswinging corner to give Leeds some late hope.

From there Leeds grew in confidence, and Joe Gelhardt was inches away from making it 3-2 when he nipped in front of Manuel Akanji and flick the ball towards goal, but it went just a few inches past Ederson’s far post.

City managed to ride out the storm and the game ended on a subdued note in front of the disappointed Leeds supporters. John Stones and Joao Cancelo had late chances that failed to hit the target in a low-key final 10 minutes.

Here’s how we rated the players...