Iheanacho puts on a show as Man City, Leicester deliver nine-goal thriller on Boxing Day

An exhilarating first-half display helped Manchester City beat Leicester City 6-3 at the Etihad with Kelechi Iheanacho in superb form.

Brendan Rodgers handed a rare start to Kelechi Iheanacho and he repaid him as he scored one and assisted two against his former club City, who survived a spirited second-half fightback from the Foxes.

Iheanacho's compatriot, defensive midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi, was however a shocking sight on the Leicester bench for 90 minutes.

Ndidi, 25, dropped to the bench for the first time this season in the Premier League, had started in all of his 12 matches so far for the Foxes, while Iheanacho picked up his fourth start of the season in the heavy defeat.

Two excellently taken penalties from Algeria's Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling, in between Kevin de Bruyne's left-footed opener and Ilkay Gundogan's tap-in for City's third of the day, handed Pep Guardiola's men a comfortable and commanding lead heading into the break.

It became a game of two halves at the Etihad when Leicester pulled three goals back in the space of 10 second-half minutes to reduce the deficit to just one goal.

Iheanacho set up James Maddison for the first to pull one back and then Ademola Lookman with an excellent through pass for Leicester's second before scoring their third goal himself to make it 4-3 six minutes later.

However, two more goals from Laporte and Sterling ended any hopes for an epic boxing day come back as City sealed the win to extend their lead at the top of the table.

The 25-year-old has now scored two goals and assisted four more in just five starts this season for Leicester in the PL.